‘CAPITAL REPATRIATION’: Exports of information and communications products rose 20.15 percent as Taiwanese companies returned home amid the US-China trade dispute

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 01, 2019
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s economy last quarter expanded 2.41 percent annually, beating the government’s May

estimate of 1.78 percent on the back of better-than-expected private investment and exports, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

“Exports and private investment fared stronger than our expectations, thanks to order transfers and capital repatriation,” DGBAS Senior Executive Officer Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑) told a media briefing in Taipei.

External demand contributed 0.72 percentage points to GDP growth during the April-to-June period, versus a drag three months earlier, as the decline in exports tapered to 2.58 percent. The agency had forecast a 3.43 percent decline.

Demand for semiconductors and electronics, the mainstay of Taiwanese exports, started to pick up, although most other categories continued to disappoint, Huang said.    [FULL  STORY]