Taiwan’s exports to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain (PIIGS) totaled US$1.72 billion in the first five months of this year, accounting for 1.6 percent of the country’s total exports, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Taiwan exported a total of US$109.3 billion in goods in the first five months, up nearly 53 percent from the same period last year.
Exports to all of Europe reached US$11.5 billion during the five-month period, representing 40.4 percent growth year-on-year, while imports from Europe increased by 59.3 percent to US$10.1 billion.
Germany was Taiwan’s biggest export market in Europe, with US$2.5 billion in exports between January and last month, followed by exports of US$2.1 billion to the Netherlands and US$1.4 billion to the UK.
Council for Economic Planning and Development Deputy Minister Hu Chung-ying (胡仲英) said that only those countries and businesses relying on exports to Europe would feel the impact of decreasing European demand because of the debt crisis.
Taiwan’s exports to the PIIGS countries accounted for a relatively small amount of the total exports, and Taiwan’s financial institutions have only US$4.7 billion exposed to those five countries, Hu said.
“In fact, it would be a good time for Taiwan, in a steady economic recovery, to attract international investment,” he said.
At the current stage, Hu suggested that Taiwan improve its investment environment to attract more international investors, as well as encourage Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China to invest in Taiwan.
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