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The possible US-China trade war can be the biggest uncertainty hindering the global economic recovery
TIER business composite indicators dip simultaneously due to seasonal effect |
The global economic outlook seems promising with strong support by outstanding performances of the US, Europe, and emerging markets. However, the possible trade war between the US and China could be the biggest uncertainty hindering the recovery of the world economy. Due to seasonal and base effects, all three composite indicators issued by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) dipped at the same time.
Taiwan's exports of January and February 2018 increased by 7.26% compared with the period of 2017. Regarding imports, Taiwan's imports of January and February 2018 increased by 11.72% compared with imports of January and February 2017. Taiwan's exports and imports of January and February 2018 gave a trade surplus of US$ 5.6 billion or a decrease by 18.39% on a year-on-year basis.
Because of the lunar new year with base period distortion, Taiwan's consumer price index (CPI) went up by 2.19% in February 2018 compared with the same month of previous year. The core inflation rate stood at 2.39% in February 2018. In addition, the wholesale price index (WPI) moved down by 0.27% in February 2018 on the year-on-year basis. In a nutshell, the current inflation is caused mainly by the seasonal reason.
As for exchange rate, the NTD went strong first and turned weaker later, despite the Fed has decided to conduct tightening measures by schedule. Nonetheless, the NTD/USD stood at 29.23 in late February 2018 indicating a 0.27% depreciation. Regarding the interest rate, it remained low and steady in February 2018 due to the continued loose monetary operations by the CBC with respect to the most recent economic performance and exchange rate of NTD; the lowest and highest over-night call rate in February 2018 stood at 0.176% and 0.187% respectively. ...Read more |
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| Taiwan ranks third in index on global transformation |
| Taiwan ranked third overall out of 129 developing and transitional countries in an index compiled by a German foundation that measures each nation’s performance in terms of political and economic transformation. Bertelsmann Stiftung’s 2018 Transformation Index, which looks at a nation’s transformation efforts from February 2015 to January last year, found that Taiwan remains a top performer in promoting democratic politics and liberal market policies, the report said. (Source: Taipei Times) |
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Taiwan Economic Research Monthly
Analysis and development strategy of agricultural and supplementary products |
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Analysis and Development Strategy of the Global Anti-Aging Product Industry
 From the perspective of preventive medicine, consuming health foods offers a range of benefits, such as slowing of the aging process, which have increasingly attracted public attention. The Biotechnology Industry Study Center at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research forecasts that the value of the global market for these products will grow to US$193 billion by 2020, with the domestic market in Taiwan for anti-aging products expected to reach a value of NT$117 billion by that time. This article will analyze the various segments of this market, including antioxidant products and dementia care products, and explore strategies for the development of the global anti-aging product industry in light of the growing focus on conditions related to free radical compounds, including aging, cancer, cataracts, dementia, decreased immune function, diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic diseases.
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