Taiwan raises 2024 GDP on stronger exports, domestic consumption

TAIWAN’S trade-reliant economy is expected to grow at a faster pace in 2024 than previously forecast, owing to high demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications abroad and solid consumption at home, the statistics office said on Thursday (May 30).

Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple and Nvidia, and is home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) .

Taiwan’s gross domestic product this year is now expected to be 3.94 per cent higher than last year, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said, revising upward the 3.43 per cent forecast it issued in February.

The economy expanded by 6.56 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the agency said, revising slightly higher a preliminary 6.51 per cent reading, its fastest quarterly pace since the second quarter of 2021, when it grew by 8.07 per cent.

The statistics agency now sees 2024 exports growing by 10.06 per cent versus last year, up from 6.14 per cent predicted earlier. In 2023, exports dropped by 9.8 per cent year on year.

Exports in April rose for the sixth consecutive month, and may gain more momentum approaching the traditionally strong second half of the year, which bodes well for the island’s economic growth amid booming demand for AI and other high-tech products.

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The island’s economy should get an additional boost from domestic consumption, which remains relatively strong. REUTERS