Taiwan’s consumer confidence index fell 0.73 points to an 11-month low of 71.86 this month, as the government is set to raise electricity rates next month, fueling inflation concerns, a survey by the Taiwan Economic Development Research Center at National Central University (NCU) showed yesterday.
The subindex on consumer prices lost 1.2 points to 35.26, a new nine-month low, reflecting a general discontent among the public about consumer price trends.
NCU economics professor Dachrahn Wu (吳大任) said that retailers and restaurants would pass cost hikes on to consumers even though heavy electricity users would bear the brunt of fee adjustments.
Photo: Hsu Tzu-ling, Taipei Times
The subindex gauging people’s willingness to purchase durable goods fell by 0.8 points to 101.99, while expectations of household income over the next six months dropped 0.69 points to 81.94, the survey showed.
The subindex measuring people’s stock investment interest shrank 0.59 points to 49.89, the worst in 11 months, as the local bourse saw corrections, in line with global shares, it showed.
The home-buying interest reading softened by 0.72 points to 99.56, as prospective buyers prefer to wait and see on expectations of price falls, the survey showed.
Separately, the National Development Council (NDC) yesterday said its business climate monitor last month turned “yellow-red” for the second consecutive month, reflecting a sustained economic expansion, as local tech firms benefited from US technology giants’ investments in artificial intelligence (AI).
The monitor’s value gained 2 points to 37, just one point away from a “boom,” thanks to a pickup in manufacturing sales, and wholesale, retail and restaurant revenues, the NDC said.
The council uses a five-color system to depict the nation’s economic state, with “red” indicating a boom, “green” suggesting steady growth, “blue” signaling a recession, “yellow-red” showing that the economy is growing stronger and “yellow-blue” suggesting a weakening economy.
“Strong AI demand accounted for improving manufacturing sales and wholesale revenues, offsetting the decline in private consumption,” NDC Economic Department Director Chiu Chiu-ying (邱秋瑩) said.
However, the gauge on overtime hours shed 1 point, as domestic service providers reported a business slowdown after the end of the Lunar New Year holiday, Chiu said.
The index of leading indicators, which seeks to project the economic picture in the following six months, increased 0.64 percent to 103.35, rising for four consecutive months, as construction, semiconductor equipment imports and manufacturers’ business confidence showed positive cyclical movements, Chiu added.
The index of coincident indicators, which mirrors Taiwan’s economic conditions, increased 0.68 percent, the 22nd consecutive month of growth, to 105.27, affirming a steady growth in the economy, Chiu said.
The government has created a task force to monitor and respond to uncertainty linked to US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, which could have a negative impact on global trade and on Taiwan’s exports, she said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
RSS