A number of economic data performed poorly in July, Taiwan's Federation of Labor and Industry called for the resumption of cross-strait pragmatic exchanges and economic development | Taiwan | Economy
Taipei, August 9th (Xinhua) - The economic data released by Taiwan authorities for July has shown poor performance.
The statistics department of the Taiwan authorities announced on the 9th that Taiwan's CPI in July increased by 1.88% compared to the same period last year, slightly expanding compared to June; The CPI in the first seven months of this year increased by 2.26% compared to the same period last year. Officials from the department stated that the year-on-year increase in CPI in July was mainly due to the demand for leisure and entertainment driving up entertainment service prices, as well as the rise in prices of meat, takeout fees, rent, personal care service fees, and medical expenses.
It is worth noting that, excluding factors such as vegetable and energy prices, the core CPI increased by 2.73% year-on-year, reaching a high in the past six months. The upward trend continues to expand, indicating that inflationary pressure is still present. Especially in the service sector, the increase has expanded to 3.1%, the largest increase in over 20 years.
Although the overall CPI increase has recently converged, factors such as price accumulation have made Taiwanese people feel less optimistic than official data. For example, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Company announced that starting from August, the single selling price of Taiwan beer series products sold in supermarkets, traditional supermarkets, etc. will be increased by NT $5; Local tobacco products will also increase by NT $5 to NT $10 per pack.
Due to global inflation remaining at a high point, monetary tightening pressure continues to undermine investment confidence.The export to Chinese Mainland was US $13.42 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 16.3%.
Among the 11 major categories of goods, only "Zitong and audiovisual products" achieved positive growth in exports, with other declines exceeding 10%.
The latest statistical report on the import and export of machinery and equipment released by the Taiwan Machinery Industry Association in July also shows that the value of machinery exports in July was 2.645 billion US dollars, a decrease of 21.7% from the same period last year, and has been negative for 12 consecutive months.
Looking ahead, the Machinery Association is cautiously optimistic about exports.
The white paper points out that only by ensuring peace and stability in cross-strait relations can the survival and development of Taiwanese enterprises be sustained. Miao Fengqiang suggested that the Taiwan authorities should restore the normalization of cross-strait exchanges as soon as possible and support non-governmental organizations to visit mainland China.