TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s export-dependent economy returned to growth in the second quarter, helped by resilient domestic consumption, while exports remained weak as a result of flagging demand for the island’s technology products amid global economic challenges.
Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by a preliminary 1.45% in the April-June period versus a year earlier, the statistics agency said on Friday, beating the 0.8% growth forecast in a Reuters poll.
Quarter-on-quarter, the economy expanded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.02%.
GDP in the first quarter had fallen 2.87% from a year earlier, with the economy slipping into recession.
Taiwan’s exports fell more than expected in June, slumping the most in nearly 14 years, with the government predicting that a return to growth may not occur until November.
Second-quarter exports dropped 16.9% compared with the same period last year, an improvement on the first quarter’s annual contraction of 19.2%.
The government said in May it expects full-year 2023 growth of 2.04%, the slowest pace in nearly eight years and lower than 2.45% growth in 2022.
The economy in China, Taiwan’s largest export market, grew 6.3% in the second quarter, coming in under analyst forecasts, as demand weakened at home and abroad, with post-COVID momentum faltering rapidly.
Taiwan is a key hub in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc, and home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC).
The statistics agency will provide revised figures a few weeks later, with more details and forward-looking forecasts.
(Reporting by Jeanny Kao and Faith Hung; Editing by Ben Blanchard and Edmund Klamann)
