After three consecutive quarters of decline, the economy rebounded in the second quarter with year-on-year growth of 0.69 percent, supported by better-than-expected exports, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The 0.69 percent growth was higher than the 0.48 percent growth the DGBAS forecast in May.
“By the latest data, we could say that the economy is stabilizing slowly. Some local industries showed a positive outlook, such as the electronic components industry,” DGBAS section head Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told a news conference.
Photo: Cheng Chi-fang, Taipei Times
Exports of electronic goods increased by 1.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, ending four quarters of contraction, thanks to a recovery in the semiconductor industry, the statistics agency said in a statement.
A sharp decline in the number of Chinese tourist in the second quarter had no obvious impact on the economy as tourists from other nations, such as Japan and South Korea, filled the gap, Wang said.
After price adjustments, real exports, including exported services and goods, increased by 0.65 percent in the second quarter, better than the agency’s 0.29 percent growth forecast, DGBAS data showed.
Private consumption in the second quarter rose 1.05 percent year-on-year, led by a 4.71 percent increase in new car purchases on the back of government subsidies.
However, capital formation — the net additions of equipment, buildings and other intermediate goods — declined 3.11 percent last quarter from the previous year, as the appreciation of the yen dragged down local capital formation, Wang said.
Nearly one-third of the nation’s machinery is imported from Japan, she added.
By sector, GDP growth in the second quarter was led by the output of financial and insurance companies, which climbed 1.6 percent from a year earlier, while manufacturing sector remained sluggish on muted demand with output falling 0.12 percent year-on-year, the smallest decline in five quarters, according to DGBAS.
The second quarter’s mild economic growth has not changed the agency’s full-year GDP estimate of 1.06 percent, Wang said.
In the first half of this year, GDP increased slightly by 0.01 percent from the previous year and the economy might remain weak in the second half due to various macroeconomic uncertainties including terrorist attacks, Brexit impacts and the rise of protectionism, Wang said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from