Industrial output a drag on PMIOUTLOOK UNCLEAR: GDP growth of more than 4 percent this year hinges on whether service-focused sectors emerge from the pandemic, the CIER president saidBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month was 56.2, above the expansion mark for the 19th consecutive month, but 3.1 points lower than December, dragged by slack industrial output, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. “The latest PMI data represented the slowest expansion since September 2020 after the sub-index on industrial output slipped into the contraction zone,” CIER president Chang Chuang-chang (張傳章) said, citing the institute’s monthly survey. The sub-index on inventory added 2.2 points to 56.7, while customers’ inventory rose 2.4 points to 50.7, it showed. The non-manufacturing index fell 4.7 points to 53.9, suggesting business improvement ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, the institute said in a separate survey. The reading on the six-month business outlook sub-index slumped 11.6 points to 53, as restaurants, hotels, retailers, telecoms and logistic service providers are expecting a downturn, he said.

Source: Taipei Times February 08, 2022 22:08 UTC