RETURNING COMPANIES: The institution said it expects the growth of fixed capital formation for the whole of this year to reach an eight-year high of 6.99 percent

Taipei Times
Date: 21, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) on Friday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year to 2.33 percent, due to higher-than-expected investment growth.

That was 0.27 percentage points higher than its previous forecast of 2.06 percent in July.

The institution revised its forecast, as the economy grew 2.12 percent annually in the first half of the year, which was better than its original projection of 1.7 percent, thanks to a 2.4 percent year-on-year gain in the second quarter, CIER Economic Forecasting Center director Peng Su-ling (彭素玲) told a news conference in Taipei.

Despite headwinds, including a slowdown in the global economy and uncertainty from trade tensions, the nation’s investments kept rising this year, due to local technology companies, especially in the semiconductor sector, Peng said. Also, more Taiwanese firms with overseas operations have applied to return home, she said.    [FULL  STORY]