Press Release
National Development Council (NDC)
April 27, 2016
In March 2016, the Taiwan Business Indicators showed the economic recovery to remain on the slower track. Among the indicators compiled by the National Development Council (NDC), the trend-adjusted leading index unchanged, the trend-adjusted coincident index decreased by 0.62% from the previous month, and the overall monitoring indicator flashed the "blue" signal.
- The Monitoring Indicators: The total score in March 2016 decreased by one point to 15, flashing the “blue” signal for the tenth month. Among the nine components, the imports of machineries and electrical equipments lost one point to change its individual light from “green” to “yellow-blue”. The light signal for the rest of eight components remained unchanged.
- Leading Indicators: With revised data, the trend-adjusted leading index stood at 98.11, the same level of previous month. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the TIER manufacturing sector composite indicator, SEMI book-to-bill ratio, and TAIEX average closing price had positive cyclical movements from the previous month, while the index of export orders, building permits, real monetary aggregates M1B, and net accession rate of employees on payrolls of industry and services had negative cyclical movements.
- Coincident Indicators: With revised data, the trend-adjusted coincident index stood at 97.19, down by 0.62% from February 2016. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the industrial production index had positive cyclical movement from the previous month, while electric power consumption, real machineries and electrical equipments imports, sales of trade and food services, the index of producer’s shipment for manufacturing, nonagricultural employment, and real customs-cleared exports had negative cyclical movements.
- Lagging Indicators: With revised data, the trend-adjusted lagging index stood at 98.37, down by 0.42% from February 2016. All six indicators making up the trend-adjusted index had negative cyclical movements, which were the inventories to sales ratio for manufacturing, the unemployment rate (inverted), the manufacturing unit output labor cost index, regular employees on payrolls in industry and services, loans and investments of monetary financial institutions, and the interbank overnight call-loan rate.
~~ The next release is scheduled for May 27 2016 ~~