TAIPEI (Taiwan News) —Taiwan's economy flashed a red light for the third consecutive month in April, reaching its highest level of growth in 33 years, according to the National Development Council (NDC).

Data released by the NDC on Thursday (May 27) showed that the country's composite index of monitoring indicators, which reflects the current economic situation, rose one point from March to 41 in April. The figure is the highest since May 1987.

The NDC uses a five-color system to denote the state of the country's economy, with blue signaling contraction, green indicating stable growth, and red suggesting a boom. The dual colors yellow-blue and yellow-red refer to a transition.

Despite Taiwan’s impressive economic performance in April, the NDC expects the ongoing local COVID-19 outbreak to have a negative impact on restaurants and wholesale and retail businesses in the next few months. It said the scale of the impact will be determined by how well the government is able to keep the pandemic situation under control.