Taiwan Business Indicators in January 2012
Press Release
Council for Economic Planning and Development
February 29, 2012
In January 2012, although Taiwan Business Indicators still indicated that the economy has many downside risks, the pace of decline in some components moderated. 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 1.6 points, the trend-adjusted coincident index decreased by 0.6% from the previous month, and the overall monitoring indicator flashed the "blue" signal. The results showed Taiwan’s economy brightens slightly.
1. Leading Indicators: With revised data, the composite leading index stood at 130.4, up by 1.0% from December 2011. Its annualized six-month rate of change increased by 1.6 points to 5.6%. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, index of producer's inventory for manufacturing (inverted), SEMI book-to-bill ratio, and index of export orders had positive cyclical movements from previous month. Real monetary aggregates M1B, stock price index, average monthly overtime in industry and services, and building permits had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
2. Coincident Indicators: With revised data, the coincident index stood at 128.8, up by 0.2% from December 2011. Its trend-adjusted index decreased by 0.6% to 95.4. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, electric power consumption had positive cyclical movements from previous month. The sales index of wholesale, retail and food services, index of producer’s shipment for manufacturing, real customs-cleared exports, the industrial production index, nonagricultural employment, and real machineries and electrical equipments imports had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
3. Lagging Indicators: With revised data, the lagging index stood at 143.8, up by 0.9% from December 2011. Its trend-adjusted index rose by 0.2% to 106.5. Among the six indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the manufacturing unit output labor cost index, inventories to sales ratio for manufacturing, and interbank overnight call-loan rate had positive cyclical movements from previous month. Loans and investments of monetary financial institutions, regular employees on payrolls in industry and services, unemployment rate (inverted) had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
4. The Monitoring Indicators: The total score in January was down by 1 point to 13, flashing the "blue" signal for the third consecutive month. Among the nine components, monetary aggregates M1B lost one point and changed its individual light signal from "yellow-blue" to "blue". The light signals for the rest of eight components remained unchanged.
~~ The next release is scheduled for March 27 2012 ~~