Taiwan’s consumer confidence improved this month to a nine-month high as uncertainties were eased after Taipei and Washington agreed verbally to a deal on tariffs on Jan. 15, a survey released yesterday by National Central University (NCU) showed.
The local consumer confidence index (CCI) rose 2.86 points from a month earlier to 67.16, the highest since April last year, when the index stood at 68.21, the survey conducted from Jan. 18 to Wednesday last week showed.
The CCI measures sentiment over the following six months across six factors: consumer prices, the domestic economic climate, the stock market, durable goods purchases, employment prospects and family finances.
Photo: CNA
The subindices for all six factors improved this month from a month earlier.
The subindex for consumer prices rose to 37.34, up 4.52 from last month, the highest rise among the six factors, while the subindices on the stock market and family finances rose 3.15 and 2.71 to 29.52 and 80.39 respectively, the survey showed.
In addition, the subindices on the local economic climate, purchases of durable goods, and employment also moved higher by 2.3, 2.26 and 2.2, respectively, to 83.69, 98.2 and 73.8, the survey showed.
Under the deal with the US, which has yet to be signed, as some tariff arrangements have yet to be agreed upon, the US would cut tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent from 20 percent.
NCU Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development director Dachrahn Wu (吳大任) said the lower tariff gave a big boost to sentiment in non-tech industries, because it placed Taiwan on an equal footing with the nation’s major competitors.
However, Wu said that, as part of the deal, Taiwan pledged to move some of its semiconductor supply chain to the US through large investments, and the impact of that would have to be watched.
At the same time, Taiwan’s booming stock market, which has recently closed at all-time highs, has benefited many retail investors, and helped family finances and the local economic climate, he said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s ruling and opposition parties should overcome their partisan wrangling to deal with the trade agreement, “or Taiwan’s economy will get hurt,” he added.
Wu cited US President Donald Trump’s threat on Monday to raise tariffs on South Korea-made goods to 25 percent from 15 percent, as South Korean lawmakers have yet to approve a Washington-Seoul trade deal signed last year.
Also this month, the home-buying index jointly compiled by NCU and Taiwan Realty rose 2.32 points from a month earlier to 94.95, the university added.
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