Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015-04-11
By: CNA
A free trade agreement between China and South Korea will begin to hurt Taiwan’s economy
A Formosa Petrochemical gas station in Taipei, April 6. (File photo/Chi Chih-hsiang)
within a year after it takes effect, as South Korean products made cheaper by lower tariffs gain an edge over Taiwanese goods in China, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said Friday.
Taiwanese exporters are expected to lose an estimated US$6-17 million in orders to South Korean rivals in the year after the pact takes effect, pulling down economic growth by 0.04%, according to a ministry report on the deal’s impact on Taiwan.
Losses will increase to between US$1.9-4.3 billion within a decade after the agreement is put in place, the report forecast.
Taiwan’s economic growth will tumble 0.15% annually two decades after the agreement takes effect, as losses amount to between US$2.3 billion and US$6 billion a year, the report said. [FULL STORY]
