Taiwan’s 2015 Economic Growth May Eclipse South Korea’s: GI

Taiwan’s economic growth is forecast at 3.4% for 2014 and 4% for 2015, with the latter even higher than South Korea’s 3.7%, but lower than Hong Kong’s 4.3% and Singapore’s 4.1%, according to Global Insight (GI), a forecast organization.

M. T. Sun, director of Macroeconomic Forecasting Center of Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, indicates that Taiwan’s annual economic growth used to be higher than South Korea’s from 2002 to 2012, but lagged S. Korea's due to weak economy last year.

Sun says that Taiwan is an export-oriented island and is easily influenced by the global economic climate, but believes that Taiwan’s economic growth may reach 4% in 2015 as long as the global economic climate remains stable in the next two years.

However, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) is cautious toward Taiwan’s economy and slightly adjusted in February its prediction on Taiwan’s economic growth up by 0.23 of a percentage point to 2.82% this year, lower than the year's goal of 3.2% set by the National Development Council.

As for the world’s major economies including the U.S., Japan, and China, GI lowered its prediction on their economic growths this year to 2.5%, 1.4%, and 7.5%, respectively, from its February predictions of 2.7%, 1.8% and 7.8%. (JL)