The nation's GDP is expected to grow 4.3 percent this year and a further 4.5 percent next year, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday.
Conditions were expected to remain benign despite forecasts for a deceleration in the global economy and a softening in demand for electronics, the ADB said.
The projection matches a forecast made last month by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) for the nation's GDP growth to reach 4.3 percent. Last year's growth was 4.6 percent, the government's statistics bureau said.
The ADB said that resilient intra-regional trade and robust demand from China is likely to push up exports, providing a buffer against the slowdown in other markets.
Exports are expected to slow by about 4 percentage points to a still-solid 8.8 percent, the ADB said in its Asian Development Outlook.
"An upturn in the global electronics cycle, starting in the second half of this year, is projected to lift export growth in 2008 back up to 9.4 percent," it said.
Domestic demand should recover gradually, bolstered by the modest upturn in investment that started last year and a strengthening in consumer spending.
Public investment is to benefit from new public infrastructure projects in energy, water supply and railways.
Economists have said the nation's economic growth this year will have to rely on domestic demand, as momentum from overseas slows. ADB projections showed that the nation's private consumption is expected to accelerate to 3 percent this year as the credit-card debt problems are resolved.
Inflation is seen at 1.6 percent this year and 1.5 percent next year, the Manila-based bank added.
The ADB said projections are subject to political risks.
"Political uncertainties ahead of legislative elections in December 2007 and presidential elections in March 2008 could unnerve investors, as would any deterioration in cross-strait relations," it said.
On the upside, a possible move to liberalize economic relations with China, such as relaxing limits on investment or restrictions on tourists visiting the nation from across the strait, would boost confidence in the economy, the ADB added.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”