Taiwan Business Indicators in May 2011
Press Release
Council for Economic Planning and Development
June 27, 2011
In May 2011, Taiwan Business Indicators indicated that the economy continued its steady growth. 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 0.03 points, the trend-adjusted coincident index decreased by 0.6% from the previous month, and the overall monitoring indicator flashed the "green" signal.
1. Leading Indicators: With revised data, the composite leading index stood at 128.9, up by 0.3% from April. Its annualized six-month rate of change increased by 0.03 points to 3.87%. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, SEMI book-to-bill ratio had positive cyclical movements from previous month. Index of producer's inventory for manufacturing (inverted), real monetary aggregates M1B, index of export orders, building permits, average monthly overtime in industry and services, and stock price index had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
2. Coincident Indicators: With revised data, the coincident index stood at 136.7, up by 0.5% from April. Its trend-adjusted index decreased by 0.6% to 102.6. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the industrial production index, index of producer’s shipment for manufacturing, the sales index of wholesale, retail and food services, and real machineries and electrical equipments imports had negative cyclical movements from previous month. Nonagricultural employment, electric power consumption, and real customs-cleared exports had positive cyclical movements from previous month.
3. Lagging Indicators: With revised data, the lagging index stood at 146.2, up by 2.8% from April. Its trend-adjusted index rose by 1.7% to 109.7. All six indicators making up the trend-adjusted index had positive cyclical movements from previous month, which were inventories to sales ratio for manufacturing, the manufacturing unit output labor cost index , regular employees on payrolls in industry and services, loans and investments of major financial institutions, unemployment rate (inverted) and interbank overnight call-loan rate.
4. The Monitoring Indicators: The total score in May was down by 1 point to 28. The overall light signal flashed the "green" signal for the third consecutive month. Among the nine components, stock price index and imports of machineries, electrical equipments each gained one point and changed their individual light signals, customs cleared exports lost 3 points and changed its individual light signal from "yellow-red" to "blue". The light signals for the rest of six components remained unchanged.
~~ The next release is scheduled for July 27 2011 ~~