Retail sales in Taiwan are expected to grow 2.9 percent year-on-year to NT$1.729 trillion (US$56.42 billion) in the second half of this year, a far cry from China and Hong Kong’s robust growth during the same period, a MasterCard report released yesterday on its Web site said.
The MasterCard Worldwide’s biannual forecast on retail sales showed that Taiwan, along with Japan and New Zealand, was trailing far behind other economies in the poll of 12 Asian-Pacific markets in terms of the pace of growth, amid rising inflationary pressures and weakening consumer confidence.
The report attributed the nation’s unimpressive growth in sales, the third-weakest in the poll, to the slowing pace of real GDP growth and MasterCard predicted that the economy would grow at 3.4 percent this year, compared to 5.7 percent growth last year.
MasterCard said sales in Japan would show the weakest growth among the polled economies, with a mere 1 percent increase in the second half, followed by New Zealand’s projected 2.5 percent growth.
In comparison, China leads the list with an anticipated 18 percent growth year-on-year in retail sales to 5.566 trillion yuan (US$813.5 billion) in the second half, while Hong Kong’s retail sales are predicted to increase 12.7 percent from a year ago to HK$136.8 billion (US$17.54 billion) over the same period, MasterCard data showed.
Overall, the report predicted retail sales would remain strong across Asia in the six months between last month and December, despite volatile financial markets and a slowing global economy.
Other markets forecast to enjoy strong retail sales growth included Indonesia, with 12 percent growth, Malaysia, with 9.3 percent growth, and the Philippines, with 8.6 percent growth, the report said.
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