COST OF LIVING:Most respondents said that they expect consumer prices to rise in the second half, while 72.1 percent said it is not a good time to buy real estate

Taipei Timesa
Date: Jul 20, 2017
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Public confidence in the economy has weakened further after the government’s business monitoring system was “yellow-blue” for the second straight month, fueling concerns over an economic slowdown in the second half of this year, a Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) survey released yesterday showed.

Nearly 40 percent of respondents said they expect the economy to soften in the next six months, while 21.5 percent said it would improve and the remainder expected it to remain unchanged, the survey found.

The cautious sentiment came after the nation’s leading and coincident index series pointed slightly downward over the past two months, affirming that the pace of economic recovery has slowed, Cathay Financial economic research department assistant manager Achilles Chen (陳欽奇) said.

“It remains to be seen whether the growth momentum will pick up going forward after losing some steam last quarter,” Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]