The government statistics office says Taiwan’s economic growth in 2015 was the lowest in six years. That’s according to new figures out on Friday which showed that Taiwan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 0.85% last year.
Taiwan’s GDP in the fourth quarter of 2015 fell by 0.28% as compared with the same quarter in 2014. The statistics office said that was due to poor export performance and lower-than-expected domestic consumption.
The fourth quarter GDP figure, however, was 0.79% higher than in the third quarter. The statistics office’s Wang Shu-juan said that’s a sign that the economic downturn is easing.
“This YOY or year-on-year number is calculated based on a comparison with the same period last year," said Wang.
"Once we take that out of the equation and compare the number to the previous quarter, the fourth quarter [of 2015] was an improvement over the third quarter. As to whether the economy has bottomed out, we can only say that based on the fourth quarter figures, the downturn has eased. The government released a short-term economic stimulus package last November to boost domestic consumption. But GDP growth in 2015 ended up at 0.85%, which was lower than the expected 1%."
Wang said that the retail sector grew by 0.93% in the fourth quarter last year, up from a 1.93% drop in the third quarter. She said that’s a sign that the package has been successful in stimulating domestic consumption. Wang also said that some of the positive effects of the package will come in the first two quarters of this year.