The government’s business climate monitor returned to “green” as the nation’s export-reliant economy resumed a stable recovery after two months of slowdown, the National Development Council said yesterday.
The total score for the major economic bellwether stood at 24 last month, a 4-point gain from January, backed by improvements in industrial output, capital equipment imports and producers’ shipments, the council said.
“The latest figures suggest a healthy state for the nation’s economy, although the pace of growth remains modest,” council research director Wu Ming-huei (吳明蕙) told a media briefing.
The trade tensions between the US and China merit close attention and so do monetary policy moves by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks, Wu said.
The US and China account for about 50 percent of the nation’s exports.
The council uses a five-color spectrum to identify the nation’s economic state, with “blue” representing a recession, “green” signifying steady growth and “red” indicating overheating. Dual-color signals suggest the economy is changing gears.
CONFIDENCE
The leading indicator index, which is aimed at forecasting the economic landscape six months ahead, stood at 101.17, down 0.13 percentage points from one month earlier, the council said.
The indices on semiconductor equipment imports, building permits and employee payrolls posted positive cyclical movements, while export orders, monetary supply and stock prices had negative cyclical movements, it said.
The coincident indicators, which reflect the current economic state, printed 102.05, up 0.05 percentage points from one month earlier, it said.
The measures on producers shipments for manufacturing, industrial production and electrical equipment imports registered positive cyclical movements, while sales of trade and food services, exports, non-agricultural employment and power consumption saw negative cyclical movements, it said.
The nation’s economy might continue to find support in global economic expansion and new technology applications, Wu added.
Trade disputes between the US and China have yet to impact on consumer confidence as the measure increased to a 32-month high of 87.86 this month, a National Central University (NCU) survey showed yesterday.
The gauge on stock investment confidence picked up 5.3 points to 106.2, above the neutral threshold of 100, the monthly report said.
NCU Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development director Dachrahn Wu (吳大任) attributed the rosy sentiment to the timing of the survey, which was conducted from Monday to Thursday last week, before the world’s two largest economies announced protectionist measures.
The local bourse has come through sluggish transactions, judging from the daily turnover of NT$120 billion (US$4.12 billion) so far this year, compared with an average of NT$100 billion last year and NT$80 billion in 2016, NCU professor of economics Yau Ruey (姚睿) said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS