The IMF has raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year by 0.2 percentage points to 2.9 percent, outpacing other regional countries including Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
The IMF’s April 2025 World Economic Outlook report, published yesterday, said that the imposition of sweeping tariffs by the US was "resetting the global trade system and giving rise to uncertainty" that is testing the resilience of the global economy.
Given that uncertainty, the IMF said it was estimating global economic growth of 2.8 percent this year and 3 percent next year, down 0.5 and 0.3 percentage points respectively from its last forecast in January.
Photo: Reuters
As for Taiwan, the report predicted that Taiwan’s economy would grow by 2.9 percent this year — a figure 0.2 percentage points higher than its previous forecast in October last year — and 2.5 percent next year.
Last year, Taiwan’s economy grew by 4.3 percent, the report said.
Meanwhile, the IMF predicted that Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation, would rise by 1.8 percent this year, well below the 4.3 percent forecast globally.
Taiwan’s CPI growth is to tick lower next year, to 1.6 percent, the report said.
In addition, the unemployment rate in Taiwan is expected to remain at 3.4 percent both this year and next, the IMF said.
Elsewhere in East Asia, the IMF forecast GDP growth of 0.6 percent in Japan this year, 4 percent in China, 1 percent in South Korea, 2 percent in Singapore and 1.5 percent in Hong Kong.
The US economy, the world’s largest, is expected to grow at a rate 1.8 percent this year (down from 2.8 percent last year), with inflation at 3 percent, the report said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he