Taiwan's Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (中華經濟研究院), a government-backed think tank, cut its 2001 economic growth forecast, citing falling exports and a weakening financial sector.
The institute cut its 2001 forecast to 4.57 percent from 5.74 percent. It projected a 3.7 percent growth rate for the first quarter, with the pace accelerating to 4.1 percent this quarter, 4.3 percent in the third quarter and 6.1 percent in the final three months of the year.
The think tank's forecast is more pessimistic than the government's official 5.3 percent growth estimate for this year.
Last year the economy grew 6 percent, buoyed by exports of semiconductors, laptop computers and other electronics.
This year, slowing economic growth in the US, Japan and other key markets is sapping demand for Taiwan's exports. The Ministry of Finance said earlier this month export growth will probably slow to just 0.5 percent this year from last year's 22 percent. In March, exports dipped 1.8 percent from a year earlier.
Weak exports aren't the only drain on the economy. Rising bad loans, slowing domestic investment and a record jobless rate were also cited by the institution. Past-due loans made up 6.2 percent of total loans at the end of last year, according to the finance ministry.
Taiwan Ratings Corp estimates the actual figure to be between 8 percent and 10 percent.
"The weakening financial industry is a home-grown problem pulling Taiwan's economy down," said Tsai Hung-kweng, a section chief in the government's Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, who helped compile the survey.
Private consumption is seen rising 3.50 percent, the lowest rise since 1960, while private investment growth is slated at 1.69 percent.
The statement said that while both import and export growth may narrow, the slump in imports is expected to be larger, thereby widening the trade surplus and contribute to overall economic growth.
The institution expects consumer prices to grow 0.99 percent, while M1B is seen posting a marginal growth of 3.29 percent due to a weakening economy.
Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (
The newspaper said US economic growth has been revised downward to less than 2 percent and the Asian Development Bank on Thursday forecast that the region's total economic growth would decline from 7.1 percent in 2000 to 5.3 percent in 2001.
The bank also cut its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan to 5.1 percent from 6.3 percent.
HSBC Holdings PLC is deepening its commitment to Taiwan as the economy emerges as one of the bank’s fastest-growing markets globally, driven by an artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, expanding cross-border trade, and rising wealth creation. “The advantage that Taiwan has is a growth story linked to the semiconductor and broader AI industries, strong underlying corporate performance, and wealth creation,” said Surendra Rosha, HSBC’s co-chief executive for Asia and the Middle East, in an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times on June 2, during this year’s HSBC Taiwan Conference. That combination has helped HSBC cement its position as the most profitable international
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it would work with US chipmaker Intel Corp to jointly develop and deploy next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and intelligent computing platforms in a move to capture booming demand for AI computing systems. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), said in a statement that the partnership would combine its global manufacturing scale, system integration expertise and AI data center deployment capabilities with Intel’s strengths in processor architecture, silicon technologies and software ecosystem. The companies said they plan to work on equipment used in AI data centers, including server racks powered by
RSS