Despite the persistent weak economy, a rebound in exports may increase the growth momentum from this month and further boost market sentiment in the near future, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
The council’s remarks came after its composite monitoring economic indicators flashed a 10th straight “blue light” month last month, an indication that the nation’s economy remained in a slowdown.
The 10-month period was the second-longest “blue light” period since the nation started evaluating economic indicators in a five-color spectrum based on nine components in 1984, the council said in its monthly report. It also broke the record marked during the global financial crisis when the “blue light” flashed for nine consecutive months.
The composite monitoring economic indicators have a scale of between nine and 45, with the lowest range — nine to 16 — represented by a “blue light.” Last month’s score was 15, down one point from July, the council said.
For this month, Hung Jui-bin (洪瑞彬), director-general of the council’s economic research department, told a press conference that the situation might improve.
Industrial production and commercial sales are likely to gain momentum, which may provide some positive news for the economy in the near future, Hung said, citing the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ data that exports expanded more than 10 percent in the first half of this month from a year earlier.
However, the council’s index of leading indicators, which is used to gauge the short-term economic outlook, decreased 0.1 percent from a month earlier to 130.1 points last month, according to the report.
The index’s annualized six-month rate of change, which provides a more accurate forecast of the short-term business cycle, fell 0.8 percentage points to 2.9 percent last month from the previous month, marking the fourth consecutive month of decline, the report said.
Externally, the latest figures on the leading indicators of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and five Asian countries — China, India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea -— showed declining trend for the fourth and the 19th months in a row respectively.
In related news, the consumer confidence index (CCI) showed a slight decline this month, with the index dropping 0.83 points from a month earlier to 74.35 this month, a survey showed.
However, the university’s Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development director Dachrahn Wu (吳大任) said the public’s confidence may rebound in the fourth quarter.
The CCI benchmark gauges public expectations of the stock market, household finances, durable goods, job opportunities, consumer prices and the economic outlook for the next six months.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS