Taiwan Business Indicators in April 2013
Press Release
Council for Economic Planning and Development
May 27, 2013
In April 2013, Taiwan Business Indicators showed the domestic economy still faced many challenges. 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 0.08 points, the trend-adjusted coincident index decreased by 0.4% from the previous month, and the overall monitoring indicator flashed the " yellow-blue" signal.
1. Leading Indicators: With revised data, the composite leading index stood at 103.8, up by 0.4% from March 2013. Its annualized six-month rate of change increased by 0.08 points to 6.53%. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, SEMI book-to-bill ratio, building permits, real monetary aggregates M1B, average monthly overtime in industry and services, stock price index, and index of producer's inventory for manufacturing (inverted) had positive cyclical movements from previous month. Index of export orders had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
2. Coincident Indicators: With revised data, the coincident index stood at 101.2, down by 0.2% from March 2013. Its trend-adjusted index decreased by 0.4% to 97.9. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, real machineries and electrical equipments imports, electric power consumption had positive cyclical movements from previous month. Index of producer’s shipment for manufacturing, industrial production index, real customs-cleared exports, nonagricultural employment, and sales index of trade and food services had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
3. Lagging Indicators: With revised data, the lagging index stood at 104.8, up by 0.6% from March 2013. Its trend-adjusted index increased by 0.3% to 101.4. Among the six indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, the manufacturing unit output labor cost index, inventories to sales ratio for manufacturing, loans and investments of monetary financial institutions had positive cyclical movements from previous month. Unemployment rate (inverted), regular employees on payrolls in industry and services, and interbank overnight call-loan rate had negative cyclical movements from previous month.
4. The Monitoring Indicators: The total score in April lost one point to 17, flashing the “yellow-blue” signal for the eighth consecutive month. Among the nine components, customs-cleared exports changed its individual light signal from “yellow-blue” to “blue”, lost one point. The light signals for the rest of eight components remained unchanged.