Lower demand for imports in Europe, US to impact export-driven Taiwan
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/04/06
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Two shop assistants wait for customers at a fashion store in Monte Napoleone shopping street in Milan, Italy. (AP photo)
As an export-oriented economy, Taiwan is susceptible to shrinking demand from the end market in Western countries, said Darson Chiu (邱達生), vice president of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER).
Earlier concerns had been focused on the derailment of the supply chain, as the virus outbreak started in China, the world's largest production base, wrote CNA. The shift of the epicenter from China to Europe and the U.S., however, has led to faltering consumer demand as lockdowns are imposed worldwide.
Analysts at Germany-based investment bank Berenberg reckon the outbreak will thrust all advanced economies into a recession this year, reported CNBC. That gloomy forecast was echoed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which predicted on March 26 that the global economy will contract by 2.2 percent in 2020. [FULL STORY]
