German companies in Taiwan are significantly more optimistic about the economy this year and, encouraged by the growth potential in digitalization, healthcare and biomedicine, many plan greater investment, the German Trade Office Taipei said on Thursday, as it released the results of its annual confidence survey.
A record 63.3 percent of respondents expect the economy to gain momentum this year, up from 25.8 percent last year, the trade office said.
Asked how certain they were that the economy would perform well over the next three years, respondents among the 251 German companies operating in Taiwan scored a confidence level of 65.4 percent.
This optimism is reflected in companies’ investment plans, as a record 44.6 percent indicated plans to invest locally over the next two years, the trade office said.
While most German companies were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the decline was not as severe as expected in March last year, when about 18 percent expected to see their revenue shrink more than 30 percent.
In the end, only 7.9 percent experienced that much of a decline, the trade office said, adding that 19.8 percent of the companies benefited from the pandemic.
Last year, 2.6 percent expected to benefit from the pandemic, it said.
Despite the pandemic, 93.1 percent of the companies did not dismiss any local employees last year, it added.
Respondents said that businesses related to “Industry 4.0,” smart machinery, autonomous vehicles and digitalization had the greatest growth potential, it said, adding that biomedicine, healthcare, life science and renewable energy were also viewed as promising.
The business confidence survey was conducted between November last year and last month, the trade office said.
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