Taiwan Business Indicators in January 2009
Press Release
Council for Economic Planning and Development
February 27, 2009
In January 2009, Taiwan’s business cyclical indicators showed a serious slowdown in economic conditions. 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 decreased 5.0 point, the trend-adjusted coincident index decreased 7.4% from the previous month and the overall monitoring indicator flashed the "blue" signal for the fifth consecutive month.
1. Leading Indicators: The composite leading index stood at 84.4, down by 4.9% from December 2008. Its annualized six-month rate of change decreased by 5.0 point to -27.6%, with sliding for the fifteen consecutive month. The decreasing leading index largely came from the negative cyclical movements in SEMI book-to-bill ratio, index of export orders, and average monthly overtime in industry & services, hours. Monetary aggregates M1B* showed improvement.
(Note: components marked with an asterisk indicate real terms)
2. Coincident Indicators: The coincident index stood at 76.4, down by 7.3% from December. Its trend-adjusted index decreased by 7.4 % to 72.1, with sliding for the eleventh consecutive month. All coincident indicators contributed negatively to the index, led by large decline in electric power consumption, real customs-cleared exports* and industrial production index.
3. The Monitoring Indicators: The total score recorded 9 in January, remaining at the same level of December 2008. The overall light signal was flashing the "blue" signal for the fifth consecutive month. The light signals for all the nine components remained unchanged.
T~~ The next release is scheduled for March 27, 2009 ~~T