Yuanta-Polaris raises growth forecast

REALIGNMENT: China-based Taiwanese companies are returning at a faster pace and at a greater scale, easing the impact of the US-China trade row, a think tank said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 26, 2019
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Another research institute yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year, as

more companies return home from China as the trade conflict between Beijing and Washington persists, driving up private investment and cushioning the blow from soft external demand.

Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute (元大寶華綜經院) revised up its GDP growth forecast for this year to 2.3 percent from the 2.1 percent it predicted six months earlier, as China-based companies shift production bases back home at a faster pace and a greater scale.

“The supply chain realignment has made Taiwan less of a victim of the ongoing trade dispute and cut its economic dependence on China, although the link remains strong,” the Taipei-based think tank’s president Liang Kuo-yuan (梁國源) said.

A government-backed survey late last year found that 45.8 percent of Taiwanese firms in China said they intend to adjust their investments or relocate, Liang said.    [FULL  STORY]