TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s manufacturing sector has recorded its best performance in 2.5 years, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) said Thursday (March 7).
The economic indicator for the sector was flashing a yellow-red light, pointing at a warming economy, following six months of yellow-blue lights standing for sluggishness.
Taiwan uses a five-color scale to symbolize its overall economic performance:
- Blue, which dominated most of the year, stands for contraction
- Yellow-blue represents sluggishness
- Green indicates stable growth
- Yellow-red stands for a warming economy
- Red means the economy is booming or overheating.
TIER said the index rose in January by 3.85 points from the previous month to reach 16.04 points. The new figure amounted to the highest level for the manufacturing index and the first yellow-red light since September 2021, per the Liberty Times.
Key factors in the revival were the growth of AI business opportunities, and the gradual removal of inventory in the semiconductor supply chain, TIER said. Imports, export orders, and exports also showed positive trends at the start of 2024.
Nevertheless, the think tank still advocated caution about factors such as the state of the Chinese economy, the possibility of interest rate hikes in the United States and the European Union, the U.S.-China technology war, and regional political factors.
