The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research has raised its economic growth forecast next year to 3.48%, citing stabilizing private consumption and growth in tourist numbers.
The Taipei-based think tank made the announcement on Thursday. It said the economic growth next year will be higher than this year’s, but not by much. Director of the institute’s economic forecasting center, Gordon Sun, explained why.
"Our stock market was doing very well from January to September. You can probably sense that foreign capital is pulling out recently, so the stock market is starting to cool down. This is the first reason," said Sun.
"The second reason is that the number of tourists has peaked. Even if an additional one million tourists come to Taiwan next year, the effect on private consumption is probably not going to be as noticeable as this year," he said.
The institute also pointed out that a number of uncertainties may have an impact on the economy. These uncertainties include the timing of a US Federal Reserve rate hike and energy prices.