The government yesterday cut its economic growth forecast for this year to 1.47 percent, from the 2.32 percent it projected in November last year, as the nation’s heavy dependence on exports and a few industries grows increasingly unsustainable amid a global slowdown and ever-shifting technology trends.
Exports, which account for 60 percent of GDP, are now projected to shrink 2.78 percent this year, the second consecutive year of contraction, as demand for mobile devices slows, hurting Taiwanese firms in the global supply chain, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said in a report.
“The economy is lacking in growth momentum, though it might increase mildly this year as it did last year,” DGBAS Minister Shih Su-mei (石素梅) told a news conference.
The statistics agency also trimmed GDP growth for last year to 0.75 percent, from the 0.85 percent estimated last month, while it raised the pace of decline for last quarter from 0.28 percent to 0.52 percent.
Disappointing economic data necessitated the downward revisions and downside risks continue to loom, DGBAS statistics division head Wu Pei-hsuan (吳佩璇) said, adding that the global economy has been weaker than expected so far this year and crude oil prices have not yet stabilized.
The trends are unfavorable for world information technology spending, which might manage a mere 0.6 percent increase this year, driven mainly by software innovations rather than hardware, Wu said.
Taiwan is home to the world’s largest electronics component suppliers, providing chips, camera lenses, casings, batteries and other parts for Apple Inc’s iPhone and iPad.
The overconcentration on exports and a few industries make the nation vulnerable to a slowdown in Apple sales, DGBAS statistics division director Tsai Hung-kun (蔡鴻坤) said.
“Gone is the era when mobile devices registered rapid growth and benefitted firms in their supply chain,” Tsai said.
Exports are expected to remain in negative territory in the first half of the year and stage a humble comeback in the third quarter, with the launches of new-generation electronic devices, the statistics agency forecast.
The seasonality-driven forecast proved to be inaccurate last year due to a lack of breakthrough innovations.
Poor exports mean domestic demand will have to prop up the economy this year, with private consumption forecast to grow 1.36 percent and private investment to pick up 1.98 percent, the report said.
Semiconductor firms have bought new equipment to maintain technology leadership and airliners have made known plans to replace old fleets, Wu said.
The government is to lend a helping hand by raising public works spending by 5.05 percent, the first increase since 2000, the report said.
Consumer prices could expand only 0.69 percent this year, curbed by lingering crude oil price disruptions, the report said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
RSS