EDITORIA: Economy likely to remain ‘blue’The National Development Council (NDC) last week reported that Taiwan’s business monitoring indicators remained “blue” for a seventh straight month in May, pointing at a continued economic slowdown, while the index of leading indicators fell for a second consecutive month, adding to worries about persistent weakness in the nation’s export-reliant economy. The index of leading indicators seeks to forecast the economic landscape in the next six months. The NDC’s data showed that the index dropped 0.28 percent in May, following a 0.19 percent fall the previous month. As the leading indicators are still falling, it means Taiwan’s economy is not out of the woods yet. In a nutshell, it would be unlikely for the business monitoring indicators to show significant upward movement in the short term, until a definitive turnaround materializes, and the “blue” signal is likely to linger for a while.
