Taiwan Business Indicators in May 2012
Press Release
Council for Economic Planning and Development
June 27, 2012
In May 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 0.3 points, the trend-adjusted coincident index increased by 0.6% 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 131.4, up by 0.5% from April 2012. Its annualized six-month rate of change increased by 0.3 points to 6.2%. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, SEMI book-to-bill ratio, average monthly overtime in industry and services, stock price index had positive cyclical movements from previous month. Real monetary aggregates M1B, index of producer's inventory for manufacturing (inverted), index of export orders, and building permits had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
2. Coincident Indicators: With revised data, the coincident index stood at 132.3, up by 1.2% from April 2012. Its trend-adjusted index increased by 0.6% to 97.9. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, electric power consumption, the sales index of wholesale, retail and food services, real machineries and electrical equipments imports, index of producer’s shipment for manufacturing, industrial production index had positive cyclical movements from previous month. 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 139.3, up by 0.4% from April 2012. Its trend-adjusted index decreased by 0.2% to 103.1. Among the six indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the inventories to sales ratio for manufacturing 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, manufacturing unit output labor cost index, loans and investments of monetary financial institutions had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
4. The Monitoring Indicators: The total score in May increased 1 point to 15. The overall light signal flashed the "blue" signal for the seventh consecutive month. Among the nine components, sales index of wholesale, retail and food services gained one point and changed its individual light signal from "blue" to "yellow-blue". The light signals for the rest of eight components remained unchanged.
~~ The next release is scheduled for July 27 2012 ~~