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Updated Tuesday, March 2, 2010 11:03 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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Consumer confidence highest in 51 months

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's consumer confidence index (CCI) reached 73.16 in February, the highest in 51 months, as Taiwanese have become more sanguine over the economy, said National Central University (NCU), which compiles the monthly survey, yesterday.

People seemed to be especially rosy about the trading of stocks, as the category, “likelihood to buy stocks over the next six months,” scored 99.4, the second highest figure to date, NCU said.

The highest score received for the category was 99.7 in December 2001, NCU said.

Taiwan stocks yesterday rose the most in three weeks on speculation China may agree on tax breaks for companies from the island, boosting their earnings prospects. By closing, the benchmark TAIEX was at 7,577.75, a rise of 1.9 percent, the most since Feb. 9.

The 73.16 total CCI score was the highest since December 2005, said Hsu Chih-chiang, director of a research institute under NCU.

People expressed their confidence for the various categories in the survey, Hsu said.

Hsu cited as an example the category titled “likelihood to buy durable goods over the next six months,” which received a score of 101, a rise of 9.45 from January.

This was the first time the category received a score over 100 since July 2008, Hsu said. A score between 100 and 200 means people are becoming more optimistic.

As for other categories, “outlook for the jobs market over the six months” received a score of 61.95, a rise of 18.45 from January and a fifth monthly increase.

The categories “outlook for family finances over the next six months,” “outlook for the economy over the next six months” and “outlook for prices over the next six months” all increased, to 67.25, 65.65 and 43.7, respectively.

NCU conducted the survey from Feb. 19 to 22 on 2,410 people in Taiwan who were 20 years of age or older. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 2 percent.

The latest CCI figure was in line with forecasts from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) last week, which said that Taiwan's gross domestic product will grow 4.72 percent this year, higher than an earlier estimate of 4.39 percent.

The statistics bureau further pointed out GDP rose 9.22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008.

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