National Development Council

Taiwan Business Indicators in April 2018

Taiwan Business Indicators in April 2018

In April 2018, the overall monitoring indicator flashed “green” signal. The total score increased by three points to 26. The trend-adjusted leading index and the coincident index decreased from the previous month. The government will be closely monitoring the economic situation.

1. The Monitoring Indicators: The total score in April 2018 increased by three points to 26, flashing the “green” signal for the third month. Among the nine components, the industrial production index gained one point to change its individual light from “green” to “yellow-red”. The index of producer’s shipment for manufacturing and the sales of trade and food services each gained one point to change its individual light from “yellow-blue” to “green”. The light signal from the rest of six components remained unchanged.  
2. Leading Indicators: With revised data, the trend-adjusted leading index stood at 100.15, down by 0.41% from last month. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, building permits, and real monetary aggregates M1B had positive cyclical movements from the previous month, while the index of export orders, net accession rate of employees on payrolls of industry and services, the TIER manufacturing sector composite indicator, real imports of semiconductor equipment, and TAIEX average closing price had negative cyclical movements.
3. Coincident Indicators: With revised data, the trend-adjusted coincident index stood at 100.36, down by 0.59% from last month. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, nonagricultural employments had positive cyclical movement, while real machineries and electrical equipments imports, real customs-cleared exports, the index of producer’s shipment for manufacturing, sales of trade and food services, the industrial production index, and electric power consumption had negative cyclical movements.
4. Lagging Indicators: With revised data, the trend-adjusted lagging index stood at 100.29, down by 0.03% from last month. Among six indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the inventories to sales ratio for manufacturing, loans and investments of monetary financial institutions, and the interbank overnight call-loan rate had positive cyclical movements, while the manufacturing unit output labor cost index, employees on payrolls in industry and services, and the unemployment rate (inverted) had negative cyclical movement.

~~ Next publication date: June 27 2018 ~~