Taiwan's economy remains stable for 3rd straight month in July

Taipei, Aug. 28 (CNA) Taiwan's economy flashed a "green" light, indicating stable growth, for the third consecutive month in July, according to a report released by the National Development Council (NDC) on Thursday.

The NDC uses a five-color system to track the economy: red signals overheating, yellow-red indicates a warming economy, green means stable growth, yellow-blue reflects sluggishness and blue denotes recession.

The NDC forecasts that Taiwan's economy will remain at a green light in the second half of the year, despite the 20 percent tariff imposed by the United States, according to Chiu Chiu-ying (邱秋瑩), head of the NDC's Department of Economic Development.

Chiu said that the global economy is still resilient, with international institutions raising their forecasts of the global economic growth for the latter half of the year, showing that developed economies are stable and their demands are upholding the economy.

Also, artificial intelligence-related demands are still thriving, with U.S. tech giants continuing to expand their capital expenses, which will spur Taiwan's supply chains and maintain its export levels.

However, Chiu also noted that leading indicators of the economy continued to fall as coincident indicators rose. This indicates that while Taiwan's economy is stable, subsequent changes need to be closely monitored.

She said that amid tariff talks, details on semiconductor tariff rates have yet to be finalized. As U.S. President Donald Trump has stated, companies with factories in the U.S. would be exempt from the taxes, meaning most major Taiwanese chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., would not be affected, unless very unfavorable developments occur.

As for private consumption, Chiu said that the public has been delaying car purchases to wait for developments on car tariffs, causing related indexes to underperform in the first half of the year.

When the tariffs are set, car purchases may warm and help drive up domestic demand, she said.