DISAPPOINTING:Weaker-than-expected external demand, with exports dropping 2.8 percent last year, offset gains in domestic demand, government data showed
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 30, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter
The economy grew by a weaker-than-expected 0.85 percent last year,
People ride escalators in a shopping mall in Taipei yesterday. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics announced that the nation’s economy grew by 0.85 percent last year. Photo: CNA
dragged down by persistent sluggish foreign and domestic demand, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
Annual GDP growth missed the agency’s estimate of 1.06 percent, representing the weakest pace since the 2009 global financial crisis.
The DGBAS attributed the weakness to the performance in the final quarter of last year, with the economy shrinking by 0.28 percent year-on-year, lagging far behind the agency’s forecast of 0.49 percent growth.
It was the second consecutive quarter that GDP contracted, indicating that the nation entered recession in the second half of last year, agency statistics showed. [FULL STORY]
