Taiwan’s top economic think tank, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER), has again lowered its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth in 2016.
This is the second time that TIER has lowered its projection this year. The new forecast predicts Taiwan’s economic growth to be 1.27% in 2016. That’s down from its last projection of 1.57%.
TIER’s economic forecasting center director, Gordon Sun, said that the slumping global economy has impacted Taiwan’s exports, which have dipped more than 10% in the first quarter. According to Sun, Taiwan’s economy registered a negative 0.88% growth rate in the first quarter. So he said that the economy will need to grow more than 2% in both the third and fourth quarters in order for the annual growth rate to rise above 1%.
Sun says that despite prior projections, there are no signs yet that Taiwan’s economy will perform better in 2016 than it did in 2015. However, Sun says he has seen clear growth in the manufacturing and service sectors, and he expects overall growth in the second half of 2016.