Taiwan's PMI Sees 2nd Straight Monthly Rise to 60.2 in April

Taiwan's purchasing managers' indexes (PMI) stood at 60.2 in April, above the 60 level for the second consecutive month since July 2012, according to Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER).

C. S. Wu, president of CIER, indicates that PMI above the medium level of 50 signifies a warming economy in the region. So, Taiwan is seeing a warming economy as its PMI was above the 50-level to 60 in March and edged up to 60.2 in April.

Wu analyzes that Taiwan's economy will  benefit from the recovering American economy although the latter's economic growth slowed a little in the first quarter (Q1) of the year. Besides, Taiwan's enterprises are optimistic about the island's business climate in the next six months.

In April Taiwan witnessed an uptrend in the five components that constitute PMI, including new orders from customers, production level, employment level, inventories, and speed of supplier deliveries. Among the components, the index of new orders went up 1.4 from a month earlier to 67.1 in April and that of production level up 2.2 to 66.8.

However, Barclays Bank has recently lowered  its prediction on Taiwan's economic growth this year to 3.6% from the earlier prediction of 4% despite Taiwan's having regained strength in export and private consumption in Q1. (JL)