Taiwan's Economic Growth up to Higher-than-expected 3.84% in Q2

Taiwan's Directorate General of Budget, Accounting & Statistics (DGB AS) lately announced Taiwan's economic growth at 3.84% in the second quarter (Q2) of the year, higher than predicted in May by 1.05 percentage points to hit a six-quarter high, resulting in economic growth of 3.5% for the first half (H1) of the year.

An official of the DGBAS attributes the better-than-expected economic growth in Q2 to  mainly the better performance in external trade and private consumption.

In Q2 the real growth of exports came to  4.45%, higher than the earlier prediction of 3.32% by 1.13 percentage points. Likewise, private consumption went up 0.1 of a percentage point from earlier predicted to 2.6%, believed due to the sharp rise of 20.5% in the number of newly licensed cars and sizable growth of 16.1% in outbound travelers. Besides, the retailing and F&B sectors also witnessed a growth of 4.5% in the quarter.

In April and May the number of inbound tourists rose an annual 30%, with Korean tourists showing the highest rise of nearly 70%, and Chinese mainlanders taking the lion's share of 40% of the island's total foreign tourists.

In Q2 Taiwan's manufacturing industry posted a 7% year-on-year growth due to a new wave of replacements of PCs and 4G iPhones that led to increasing shipments by Taiwan's parts suppliers.

In the same quarter Taiwan's jobless rate declined to 3.89% and the average monthly wage of employees on the island rose 3.5%. It's noteworthy that business turnover in H2 totaled NT$7.1 trillion (US$236.67 billion), the highest of its kind on record.

A continuing stable economy in Taiwan in H2 would enable economic growth for 2014 to very likely reach this year's goal of 3.2%. (JL)