Taiwan Business Indicators in April 2011
Press Release
Council for Economic Planning and Development
May 27, 2011
In April 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 remained at the same level of previous month, the trend-adjusted coincident index decreased by 0.5% 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 128.0, up by 0.3% from March. Its annualized six-month rate of change was 3.6%, remaining at the same level of previous month. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, index of producer's inventory for manufacturing (inverted), index of export orders, real monetary aggregates M1B, building permits, stock price index had negative cyclical movements from previous month. SEMI book-to-bill ratio and average monthly overtime in industry and services had positive cyclical movements from previous month.
2. Coincident Indicators: With revised data, the coincident index stood at 136.8, up by 0.6% from March. Its trend-adjusted index decreased by 0.5% to 103.7. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the sales index of wholesale, retail and food services, the industrial production index, electric power consumption, and real machineries and electrical equipments imports had negative cyclical movements from previous month. Nonagricultural employment, real customs-cleared exports, and index of producer’s shipment for manufacturing had positive cyclical movements from previous month.
3. Lagging Indicators: With revised data, the lagging index stood at 143.3, up by 2.7% from March. Its trend-adjusted index rose by 1.6% to 108.7. All six indicators making up the trend-adjusted index had positive cyclical movements from previous month, which were inventories to sales ratio for manufacturing, unemployment rate (inverted), the manufacturing unit output labor cost index, loans and investments of major financial institutions, regular employees on payrolls in industry and services, and interbank overnight call-loan rate.
4. The Monitoring Indicators: The total score recorded 31 in April, remaining at the same level of March. The overall light signal was flashing the "green" signal for the second consecutive month. Among the nine components, industrial production index lost 1 point and changed its individual light signal from "red" to "yellow-red", customs cleared exports gained 1 point and changed its individual light signal from "green" to "yellow-red". The light signals for the rest of seven components remained unchanged.
~~ The next release is scheduled for June 27 2011 ~~