Taipei Times
Date: Mar 22, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s GDP is forecast to contract by 0.1 percent this quarter from last quarter due to lackluster exports, but the economy would resume growth next quarter on the back of strong investments, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) said on Wednesday.

The projection was in contrast to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics’ (DGBAS) forecast last month of a quarterly increase of 0.57 percent in GDP.

“We are less upbeat than the statistics agency,” Hsu Chih-chiang (徐之強), an economics professor at National Central University who led a research team commissioned by Cathay Financial, told a news conference in Taipei.

“Exports retreated bigger than expected in the first two months, which implied that the statistics agency might need to correct its forecast,” he said.    [FULL  STORY]