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Steady global economic performance offers hopeful outlook
TIER business composite indicators turn optimistic |
Both the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and Eurostat recently adjusted Q1 GDP growth rate y-o-y of the US and Europe upward, offsetting the influence that Japan's economy has continued to go slower. In addition, China and ASEAN both seem ready to move out of the woods with fair economic numbers. As a result, the manufacturing, service and construction composite indicators issued by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) all went up somewhat in May, turning the outlook to a more cheerful mode.
Taiwan's exports in May 2016 decreased by 9.56% compared with the same month last year. The decline in exports was a 16-month consecutive y-o-y drop. Regarding imports, Taiwan's imports in May also dropped by 3.36% compared with imports in May 2015. From January 1 to May 31 this year, Taiwan's exports and imports gave a trade surplus of US$ 20.46 billion or a decrease by 8.56% on a y-o-y basis.
Taiwan's consumer price index (CPI) went up by 1.24% in May 2016 compared with the same month of previous year. The current inflation rate has remained relatively high compared with most advanced economies. Although global crude oil price plunge would drag down the price level, rising vegetable and fruit prices due to recent climate change and heavy precipitations offset the effect of dropping oil prices and still push up the price level. The core inflation rate however stood at only 0.91% in May. In addition, the wholesale price index (WPI) tumbled by 2.80% in May on the year-on-year basis.
The unemployment rate in May stood at 3.84% representing a 0.02 percentage points decrease compared with the previous month. The current unemployment rate is still considered to be at a relatively high level ...Read more |
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| Taiwan forecast to post negative growth in manufacturing output |
| A government-sponsored economic research group on Tuesday cut its forecast for the output growth of Taiwan's manufacturing sector in 2016, now saying it will fall into negative territory because of weak global demand. Citing results from its quarterly model, the Industrial Technology Research Institute's Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK) slashed its forecast for manufacturing output growth this year to minus 1.71 percent, from a forecast of 0.11 percent growth made in April. According to the IEK, manufacturing output is expected to reach NT$17.44 trillion (US$542 billion) this year, which would be down 1.71 percent from the sector's production value of NT$17.75 trillion in 2015. (Source: The Chinapost) |
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Taiwan Economic Research Monthly
Energy Development Opportunities and Challenges in Respond to International Climate Change Agreements |
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Impact of the Paris Agreement on Global Energy Development
 The intended nationally determined contributions (NDC) submitted by countries in hope to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions will largely affect the trend of global energy development. In order to achieve the NDC goals, countries of high greenhouse gas emissions such as China, the United States, the European Union, and India, have established policies regarding carbon reduction and renewable energy. These policies bring about huge impacts on global energy development including increasing the efficiency of coal-fired power plants, improving energy efficiency measures, increasing proportions of renewable energy power generation, driving global clean energy market opportunities, and gradually eliminating fossil fuel subsidies.
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