Taiwan Set to Top Other Asian Tigers With Fastest Growth in 2019
Taiwan projects its economy to top all of the other three Asian tiger economies this year.
(Bloomberg) --
Taiwan projects its economy to top all of the other three Asian tiger economies this year, with full-year growth seen at just under 2.5%, according to a government estimate published Friday.
Benefiting from business activity repatriating from China amid the trade war with the U.S., Taiwan’s economy is outperforming South Korea, Singapore and protest-hit Hong Kong, which have all trimmed forecasts in recent weeks.
The government points to its program to lure Taiwanese companies with production facilities in China to invest at home as the main reason for economic resilience. Around 100 companies have applied to invest close to NT$500 billion ($15.9 billion), creating more than 43,000 jobs, since the program began at the beginning of the year, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Michelle Lam, greater China economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong, said the trade war had also bolstered investment and manufacturing in Taiwan by persuading U.S. customers to switch their orders from China to Taiwan.
“Hong Kong and South Korea both have their own problems affecting domestic demand and trade,” she said. “And Singapore’s main drivers of growth, energy and financial services, are both feeling the effects of the trade war.”
Taiwan also projected growth to accelerate further to 2.58% in 2020 in Friday’s announcement. While exports are projected to fall 1.24% this year, the bureau sees them rebounding to 3.58% in 2020.
Officials also confirmed second-quarter growth came in at 2.4%.
To contact the reporters on this story: Chinmei Sung in Taipei at csung4@bloomberg.net;Samson Ellis in Taipei at sellis29@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Liu at jliu42@bloomberg.net, Jeffrey Black, Jiyeun Lee
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