Taiwan’s economy is likely to see moderate growth next year following this year’s robust expansion as consumer spending and private investment further improve while the world continues its sluggish recovery, two think tanks said yesterday.
The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中經院) and Polaris Research Institute (寶華研究院) said they expect GDP to increase an average of 4.55 percent and 4.62 percent respectively next year from this year when the economy could expand by the fastest rate in 20 years.
“Unemployment is expected to drop further next year while per capita income rises above US$20,000, boosting private consumption by 2.21 percent and private investment by 2.45 percent,” CIER said in a report.
Domestic demand will sustain the economy after a listless showing in recent years because of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and global financial storm, the report said.
Private investment, in particular, is forecast to expand 31.55 percent this year, a 45-year record, the report said, as major firms increase purchases of capital equipment.
Exports, which account for 70 percent of the nation’s GDP, are expected to grow 6.26 percent next year, from a strong 28.33 percent expansion this year, the report said.
CIER expects consumer prices to remain stable next year with the inflation level set to inch up 1.36 percent, from the 1 percent forecast for this year.
The New Taiwan dollar is forecast to trade at an average of NT$30.43 against the US dollar next year, the report said, predicting the jobless rate will ease to 4.83 percent next year, from an average of 5.26 percent this year.
The institute raised its forecast for GDP growth to 9.64 percent for this year, from 8.15 percent estimated in October as exports and private spending have been stronger than expected.
Polaris adopted a rosier view, lifting its forecast for GDP growth to 10.05 percent this year, from 8.52 percent predicted in September, with institute president Liang Kuo-yuan (梁國源) attributing that to the region’s rapid economic growth.
Liang said that he expected growth to slow next year because of a high base as well as a stagnant recovery in the West.
The quantitative easing by the US is likely to deepen currency market volatility next year with the NT dollar rising to NT$29.7 against the greenback, Liang said.
“A steep gain is unlikely as the central bank will intervene and keep the NT dollar in a certain range,” he said.
Polaris expects exports to increase 6.05 percent next year from this year while private consumption picks up 4.1 percent. Consumer prices are forecast to rise 1.8 percent next year from a modest 1 percent growth this year, the institute said.
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],”