On Track to Full Recovery: Green Light Flashes for 3rd Consecutive Month

 On Track to Full Recovery: Green Light Flashes for 3^rd Consecutive Month

Source: All Taipei Newspapers

May 28, 2014

According to data released by the National Development Council (NDC,國發會) on May 27, the total score of economic monitoring indicators for April increased from March's 25 points to 29, a three-year high, flashing a "green" signal for the third month, which means steady growth in the nation's economic health. Chen Chien-liang (陳建良), NDC Deputy Minister, stated that if the global economy continued to recover, Taiwan's economy was expected to flash a green light again this month.

The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) reached 85.59 points in May, approaching the record high of 86.89 points in 2011, according to a report released by National Central University yesterday.

Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development at National Central University, said that May's CCI indicated that the economy was on track to make a robust recovery. The recovery in the US and Europe and the rising economic indicators in the Mainland were factors contributing to optimistic consumer confidence, Wu added.

NDC Deputy Minister Chen opined that GDP growth would likely increase to 3 percent this year, higher than the latest forecast of 2.98 percent issued by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics on Friday last week.

However, the emerging markets and the eurozone countries were recovering more slowly than the US, while Japan just started to recover and Mainland China still faced economic risks, factors which posed possible risks to Taiwan's economy in the future.

In general, according to the NDC, last month's rise in the total score of the economic monitoring indicators was not caused by a single factor, but due to multiple improvements in many economic aspects, i.e., the TAIEX average closing price, the industrial production index, the customs-cleared exports, and sales of trade and food services, which each gained one point to push the total score from 25 to 29.  

Attachment : none