“The composite score of 15 was the same as the month before and outperformed that of the third quarter, indicating the period of contraction is nearing its end,” said Wu Ming-huei, director of the NDC’s Economic Development Department.
“Growth is likely to gather steam in the coming year, as several trend-adjusted leading indicators, including the index of export orders and real monetary aggregates M1B, are pointing upward, while the coincident index also rose to 98.31, up 0.03 percent from a month earlier.”
Among the overall indicator’s nine individual components, monetary aggregates M1B—defined as currency in circulation plus checking accounts, passbook deposits and passbook savings deposits—and imports of electrical equipment and machinery both remained at a stable green.
Stock prices and nonagricultural employment, meanwhile, continued to flash a transitional yellow-blue as declines in these two areas have shown signs of easing, the director said. The color signals for the five other components remained blue.
The NDC uses five colors to measure domestic economic health: red indicates a booming economy; yellow-red, positive transitional; green, stable; yellow-blue, transitional slowdown; and blue, sluggish.
According to Wu, rosier economic outlooks for the eurozone, Japan and U.S. are set to boost Taiwan’s exports, while the expanding popularity of the Internet of Things and new business opportunities arising from big data will spur related investment.
“On the domestic front, continuous government incentives and the arrival of the Lunar New Year holidays may also bolster consumer spending and inject fresh momentum into Taiwan’s economy,” Wu said, adding that she expects to see further improvement in the year ahead. (YHC-JG)
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