Taiwan Business Indicators in June 2012
Press Release
Council for Economic Planning and Development
July 27, 2012
In June 2012, although Taiwan Business Indicators showed some scattered signs of improvement, the economic situation still faced many challenges. Among the indicators compiled by the Cabinet’s Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), the annualized six-month rate of change of leading index increased by 0.1 points, the trend-adjusted coincident index decreased by 0.05% from the previous month, and the overall monitoring indicator flashed the "blue" signal.
1. Leading Indicators: With revised data, the composite leading index stood at 131.3, up by 0.4% from May 2012. Its annualized six-month rate of change increased by 0.1 points to 5.9%. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, building permits, average monthly overtime in industry and services had positive cyclical movements from previous month. Real monetary aggregates M1B, stock price index, index of export orders, index of producer's inventory for manufacturing (inverted), SEMI book-to-bill ratio had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
2. Coincident Indicators: With revised data, the coincident index stood at 131.0, up by 0.5% from May 2012. Its trend-adjusted index slightly decreased by 0.05% to 97.147. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the sales index of wholesale, retail and food services, index of producer’s shipment for manufacturing, real machineries and electrical equipments imports had positive cyclical movements from previous month. Electric power consumption, industrial production index, nonagricultural employment, and real customs-cleared exports had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
3. Lagging Indicators: With revised data, the lagging index stood at 138.9, up by 0.5% from May 2012. Its trend-adjusted index decreased by 0.1% to 103.0. Among the six indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the manufacturing unit output labor cost index and interbank overnight call-loan rate had positive cyclical movements from previous month. The unemployment rate (inverted), regular employees on payrolls in industry and services, loans and investments of monetary financial institutions, inventories to sales ratio for manufacturing had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
4. The Monitoring Indicators: The total score recorded 15 in June, the same level of previous month. The overall light signal flashed the "blue" signal for the eighth consecutive month. Among the nine components, industrial production index gained one point and changed its individual light signal from "blue" to "yellow-blue". The sales index of wholesale, retail and food services lost one point and changed its individual light signal from "yellow-blue" to "blue". The light signals for the rest of seven components remained unchanged.
~~ The next release is scheduled for August 27 2012 ~~