Taiwan’s economy would grow 3.6 percent this year and 2.5 to 3 percent next year, Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan (渣打台灣) forecast yesterday, saying there are no signs of recession.
The slower GDP growth next year would be due to weakening demand in the US and Europe, even though exports to China would improve from this year, Standard Chartered chief economist Tony Phoo (符銘財) told a news conference.
The US economy is predicted to grow 0.3 percent next year, compared with 2.1 percent this year, and the European economy is forecast to grow 0.4 percent next year, compared with 2.3 percent this year, Phoo said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan should continue to relax border controls to attract foreign tourists and boost domestic consumption, Phoo said, citing Thailand’s strong GDP growth on recovering tourism.
Despite the emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2, Taiwan has reached a high COVID-19 vaccination rate and can continue to ease its social distancing measures to boost private consumption, he added.
“Strong private consumption should help cushion the damage posed by weaker exports next year. Therefore, we see no signs of recession ahead,” Phoo said.
The central bank is expected to stop raising its policy rates next year after inflation abates, he said.
The bank said slowing exports to China could be a drag on the local economy in the second half of the year, as Chinese consumer demand remains weak amid Beijing’s “zero COVID-19” policy and lockdown measures.
“There is a slim chance that China would abandon its zero COVID-19 policy by the end of this year, as many rural areas support this policy,” Becky Liu (劉潔), a Hong-Kong based strategist at Standard Chartered, told the event via videoconference.
Since February, almost all first-tier cities have seen the virus spread continuously, and almost every day there is a small community facing new lockdown measures, Liu added.
The lockdown measures caused China’s import growth to slow in the first half of this year from a year earlier, she said, adding that the situation is unlikely to improve greatly in the second half.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS