Taiwan’s consumer confidence climbed to a record high this month, reaching 102, up 1.9 percentage points from last month, according to a survey conducted by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) and Roy Morgan Research.
The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Taiwan Consumer Confidence reading bodes well for the nation’s GDP growth this year, as domestic demand is expected to outperform external demand, the survey said.
“It is very encouraging to see that consumer confidence exceeds 100 consecutively,” Hong Kong-based ANZ economist Raymond Yeung (楊宇霆) said in a statement.
The finding bodes well for domestic demand and is consistent with ANZ expectations that the economy will perform well this year, Yeung said.
A total of 38.4 percent of Taiwanese respondents expressed optimism over the economy for the next 12 months, while just 18.8 percent had a negative outlook, the survey showed.
In addition, 35.6 percent said that the economy would remain in good condition during the next five years, outnumbering 15.8 percent who had a pessimistic outlook, according to the survey, which polled at least 1,000 people by telephone.
In terms of personal finances, 9.8 percent of respondents said their families are “better off” financially for this time of the year compared with last year, the survey said, while 29.6 percent said their families are “worse off.”
About 18.4 percent of respondents said their families would be “better off” financially this time next year, while 18.9 percent said their families would be “worse off” financially, the survey said.
About 15.2 percent of respondents said that now is a good time to buy big household items, setting a new record-high for the indicator, the survey said.
Meanwhile, 24.4 percent of respondents said that now is a “bad time to buy,” which is a record low, the survey said.
Household inflation expectation edged up by 0.8 percentage points to 2.2 percent this month, despite the negative consumer price index last month, the survey said.
“This expectation will help prevent Taiwan from slipping into a deflationary spiral,” Yeung said, adding that the index might still contract in the next few months given low energy prices.
Against this backdrop, the central bank might not cut interest rates, but would raise interest rates in March next year, the economist said.
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