Taiwan's economy showed third-straight month of growth in April: NDC

Taiwan's economic fundamentals remained strong in April, according to the National Development Council's (NDC) index gauging the economic climate, which flashed a "red light" for the third consecutive month.

The index's monitoring indicators reflect the existing economic situation. It moved up a point to 41 in April, reported the government's top economic planning agency on Thursday. It would be the highest record since May 1987.

However, while April showed growth, NDC warned that due to the deteriorating COVID-19 pandemic situation in Taiwan, it was highly likely the hardest-hit service industry would see the biggest regression.

NDC Economic Development Department Director Wu Ming-hui pointed out that the current trend of three consecutive red lights could mean an equally "red-light" month in May, despite the virus outbreak.

However, prior to the virus outbreak, the NDC pointed out that after 11 months of rising growth, the index's leading indicators for continual prosperity went down for the first time in April, a 0.02% decrease compared to March.

Wu pointed to two factors leading to the decline: the first being decreased construction area in industrial storage and commercial business areas, though Wu added that residential demand was still at an all-time high. The second factor was the decline of demand for export orders, though index indicators still showed it was above 50, meaning companies expected performance in May would be better than last month.