TAIPEI - Taiwan's economy remained sluggish in April as indicated by the latest index gauging the business climate, which was released by the island's economic regulating department Wednesday.

The composite index of monitoring indicators continued to show a "yellow-blue light" in April, dropping one point from March to 19 points, suggesting that the economy maintained a tendency of sinking into recession, the department said in a press release.

Under Taiwan's five-color system to assess the economy, a blue light (9-16 points) indicates contraction, a yellow-blue light (17-22) means sluggishness, a green light (23-31) signals stable growth, a yellow-red light (32-37) suggests a warming economy and a red light (38-45) points to an overheated economy.

The trend-adjusted leading indicator, which is composed of seven sub-indexes to predict changes in the economy, dropped by 1.94 percent to 96.07 points in April for six consecutive months, suggesting a downward trend of the economy.

Under the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic, poor performance in catering and retailing led to the slipping business climate in April, the statement said.

The island's manufacturing sector also saw a reduction in exports due to shrinking demands in European and US markets, it added.

However, the department said that it expects a recovery of local consumption in the latter half of May thanks to the easing COVID-19 epidemic.

According to the island's epidemic monitoring agency, the island has reported no new COVID-19 case for six days as of Wednesday, with the total number standing at 441.