Taiwan revises down 2023 GDP growth forecast on export slump

Taiwan's economy is likely to grow more slowly this year than previously forecast, the statistics office said on Wednesday (Feb 22), while also slashing the island's export outlook due to global inflation, rate rises and impact of the war in Ukraine.

Gross domestic product (GDP) for 2023 is now expected to be 2.12 per cent higher than last year, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said, revising down the 2.75 per cent forecast it issued in November. That would mark a slowdown from the 2.45 per cent logged for 2022, which was itself far slower than 2021's 6.53 per cent expansion.

The statistics agency now sees 2023 exports down 5.84 per cent on last year, compared with a 0.22 per cent contraction predicted earlier.

The office also revised up its 2023 inflation outlook. It sees this year's consumer price index 2.16 per cent higher than last year, compared with a previously forecast rise of 1.86 per cent.

In the fourth quarter, GDP shrank by a revised 0.41 per cent on a year earlier, revising up a preliminary reading of a 0.86 per cent contraction, the agency said.