Taipei, Dec. 16, (dpa/GNA) – Taiwan’s trade-oriented economy will expand 2.71 per cent this year and 4.24 per cent in 2021 despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a leading academic institute forecast Wednesday.
The Institute for Economics of Taipei`s Academia Sinica related that Taiwan has been able to maintain positive economic growth despite the pandemic’s shock to global markets thanks to the effectiveness of an array of government public health measures and economic assistance programmes.
As of mid-December, Taiwan had suffered only seven fatalities out of 750 cases, of which only 55 were from domestic spread and the last of which occurred April 12.
The institute added that the expanding markets for new technical applications such as remote conferencing had spurred Taiwanese information, computer and telecommunications related exports.
Institute for Economics research fellow Chou Yeu-tien said “given the progress in coronavirus vaccine research and development, we can expect early recovery in the global economy in 2021 and revived expansion in private consumption spending and investment in our economy.”
However, the institute said that economic expansion next year could vary between 3.16 per cent to 5.42 per cent, depending on the speed of moderation of the pandemic, the course of US-China trade frictions and the state of cross-strait relations with China.
The institute’s outlook is more upbeat than Taiwan`s official statistic agency which forecast November 27 that inflation-adjusted GDP growth will reach 2.54 per cent in 2020 and 3.83 per cent in 2021.
GNA