The IMF on Tuesday lowered Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast by 0.7 percentage points to 2.1 percent this year amid an ongoing global economic slowdown.
The IMF’s World Economic Outlook report also projected that Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) would rise 1.9 percent this year, well below the global average of 7 percent.
The IMF forecast an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent in Taiwan this year and next year.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
After the report was issued, the National Development Council (NDC) said that the government had adopted an expansionary fiscal policy to add momentum to an economic rebound.
The expansionary fiscal policy included increasing the government’s budget to NT$2.7 trillion (US$88.51 billion) this year, up 19.5 percent from last year, including an additional NT$700 billion to fund public infrastructure projects, the council added.
Meanwhile, the government has also used NT$141.65 billion in last year’s surplus tax revenues to fund NT$6,000 rebates to Taiwanese and eligible foreign residents to help stimulate domestic demand, the council said.
With the government’s special budgets forecast forecast to add 0.35 to 0.45 percentage points to GDP, the nation could achieve economic growth of 2.5 percent this year, the council said, citing Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics figures.
The IMF report forecast that global economic growth would slow to 2.8 percent this year from 3.4 percent last year, before rising to 3.0 percent next year.
Global inflation would decrease, although more slowly than initially anticipated, from 8.7 percent last year to 7 percent this year and 4.9 percent next year, the report said.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS