Taiwan grows at lower than expected 3.5%

Taipei—Taiwan’s nominal gross domestic product expanded year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015 by 3.46 percent, slightly lower than the official projection made in February, the island’s statistics agency said.

The gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was 0.04 percentage points lower than that predicted by officials in February and lagged far behind a 3.7-percent full-year growth forecast by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research this month.

After seasonal adjustment, Taiwan’s economy edged up 0.27 percent from the fourth quarter of last year, but still slowed from a full-year growth of 3.74 percent last year, according to the agency.

As global economic growth falters amid falling prices of oil, industrial and agricultural products, the nominal value of Taiwan’s US-denominated goods exports in the first quarter slumped 4.18 percent from the same period of last year, while that of goods imports dropped 14.96 percent year-on-year in the first three months, marking the worst performance since the fourth quarter of 2009.

Net exports contributed 2.69 percentage points of Taiwan’s GDP growth in the first quarter.

The other 0.77 percentage points came from domestic consumption, which covers private consumption, government spending, and public and private investment.

Nominal GDP value refers to figures that have not been adjusted for inflation. PNA/Xinhua