Taiwan’s excess savings are expected to reach a record high of NT$5.424 trillion (US$172.57 billion) this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) spurs economic growth, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
Excess savings refers to the difference between a country’s gross domestic savings and gross domestic investments, often indicating a country’s idle funds.
However, DGBAS Department of Statistics head Tsai Yu-tai (蔡鈺泰) said the funds are not necessarily “idle,” and could be invested in the stock market or used elsewhere.
Photo: CNA
As Taiwan’s economy is export-oriented, its current account is often in surplus, meaning its export values are higher than its imports, spurring excess savings, Tsai said.
The AI boom has driven Taiwan’s export performance this year, prompting the DGBAS to raise its annual growth forecast to 7.37 percent, the highest in 15 years, he said.
Exports this year are projected to exceed US$600 billion, a 31.58 percent growth from last year, he added.
The rapid growth of excess savings over the past few years — surpassing NT$3 trillion in 2020, NT$4 trillion last year and projected to exceed NT$6.2 trillion next year — reflects the sharp expansion of Taiwan’s current-account surplus, rather than insufficient investments, Tsai said.
Taiwan’s gross investment soared to a record NT$6.9 trillion last year, with the numbers expected to reach NT$7.2 trillion this year and NT$7.4 trillion next year, he said.
Based on these figures, gross investment is projected to grow by 4.35 percent this year and 2.78 percent next year, compared with an estimated increase in excess savings of about 25 percent this year and 14.39 percent next year, he added.
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