Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-12
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) Minister of the National Development Council (NDC) Duh Tyzz-jiun said Thursday that the local economy is expected to stage a rebound in the first quarter of next year in line with the global economy.

Speaking in a session of the economics committee of the Legislative Yuan, Duh said that the economy is expected to improve further in the second quarter. Duh’s forecast echoed a similar upbeat mood held by Cathay Financial Holding Co. Chairman Tsai Hong-tu, who said a day earlier that the domestic economic fundamentals are likely to fare better quarter-by-quarter in 2016.

In the third quarter of this year, Taiwan’s economy contracted 1.01 percent from a year earlier, the worst performance since the third quarter of 2009, when the country’s economy fell 1.24 percent year-on-year. The gross domestic product (GDP) contraction resulted from a 13.86- percent drop in Taiwan’s exports from a year earlier in U.S. dollar terms, with outbound sales of electronic devices — the backbone of the country’s exports — down 7.88 percent.

Exports account for about 60 percent of Taiwan’s GDP. Weakening global demand dragged down Taiwan’s exports, which tumbled 11.10 percent year-on-year in October, making the ninth consecutive drop in the country’s outbound sales. In the first 10 months of this year, Taiwan’s exports fell 9.6 percent from a year earlier.     [FULL  STORY]