Taiwan cuts 2022 GDP growth forecast on weakening exports

TAIWAN’S economy is likely to grow more slowly than previously forecast this year and next, the statistics office said on Tuesday (Nov 29), as it also cut its exports outlook due to global inflation, rate rises and China’s zero-Covid policy.

Gross domestic product (GDP) for 2022 is now expected to be 3.06 per cent higher than last year, the directorate general of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said, revising down the 3.76 per cent forecast it issued in August.

That would mark a slowdown from the 6.45 per cent logged for 2021, which was the fastest growth rate since the economy expanded 10.25 per cent in 2010.

The statistics agency now sees 2022 exports up 8.73 per cent on last year, compared with 13.51 per cent predicted earlier.

For next year, it said it saw 2023 GDP expanding 2.75 per cent compared with a prior estimate of 3.05 per cent, while exports would contract 0.22 per cent, compared with the 2.64 per cent expansion previously predicted.

The office also marginally revised up its 2022 inflation outlook. It sees 2022 consumer prices 2.94 per cent higher than last year, compared with a previously forecast rise of 2.92 per cent, though it added that 2023 would show an increase of 1.86 per cent, compared to a previous forecast of 1.72 per cent.

In the third quarter, GDP was up by a revised 4.01 per cent on a year earlier, growing slightly more slowly than indicated in a preliminary reading of 4.1 per cent, the agency said. REUTERS