The Singaporean bank also adjusted its economic growth forecast for Taiwan next year to 2 percent, up from 1.8 percent previously, a report released on Friday showed. The bank’s GDP forecast came after Taiwan’s economy grew 2.91 percent annually in the third quarter, its strongest growth in five quarters, as exports regained traction from transferred orders, and rising domestic consumption and investment also lent support, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics reported on Thursday. Third-quarter GDP expanded more than the 2.41 percent growth seen in the second quarter and beat its forecast of about 2.5 percent, DBS said. Electronics account for more than 40 percent of Taiwan’s total exports, while exports of overall goods and services account for 77 percent of its GDP, according to DBS’ calculations. “Both the trend-adjusted leading index and coincident index are improving, which has preliminarily confirmed the economy has gained some positive traction,” Yen said in a note last week.

Source: Taipei Times November 03, 2019 16:01 UTC