SHIFTING GEARS:The economy is showing signs of picking up, with exports and export orders posting double-digit growth, the National Development Council said.
The government’s business climate monitor last month flashed “yellow-blue” for a third consecutive month, as a seasonal slowdown in the technology sector continued to weigh on the nation’s export-focused economy, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.
The council said it remains cautiously optimistic about the economic outlook and attributed the slowdown to regular inventory adjustments by global technology brands ahead of new product launches in the fall.
“The second quarter is usually a slow season for technology devices as major firms take account of their inventory and prepare next-generation products,” NDC research director Wu Ming-huei told a media briefing.
The government’s business monitoring gauge stood at 21 last month, 1 point higher than in May, indicating that the economy was shifting gears, the council’s report showed.
The council uses a five-color system to indicate the nation’s economic condition, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting overheating and “blue” signaling a recession. Dual-color signs reflect a transition.
The growth momentum has started to gain pace, as evidenced by a double-digit increase in exports and export orders, Wu said.
Taiwan is home to the world’s leading contract chipmakers, chip designers and supplier of critical components used in smartphones, laptops, connected vehicles and Internet of Things applications.
Of the nine component indicators, producers’ shipments gained 1 point, while the remaining eight sub-indices remained unchanged, the report showed.
Major barometers are poised for upswings with the advent of the high sales season, Wu said, adding that major domestic research institutes had raised their GDP growth forecast for this year, lending support to the council’s view.
The pace of recovery might be modest and caution is warranted as uncertainty lingers, Wu said.
The index of leading indicators, which projects economic activity in the coming six months, stood at 100.2, down 0.28 percent from May, the report said.
Constituent measures such as imports of semiconductor equipment, manufacturing sentiment, employment increase, monetary supply and building permits all showed negative cyclical movements, it said.
Only stock closing prices and export orders bucked the trend and showed some improvement, compared with one month earlier, the report said.
The index of coincident indicators, which reflects the current economic state, shed 0.5 percent to 99.59, the council said.
Nonagricultural payroll, and sales of trade and food services registered positive cyclical movements, but imports of machineries and electrical equipment, power consumption, industrial output, manufacturing shipments and customs-cleared exports declined, the council said.
The government would help spur growth through active investment in infrastructure enhancement programs, the council said. |
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