TAIPEI- Taiwan’s trade-dependent economy likely grew faster in the fourth quarter than the third thanks to strong domestic consumption and a rebound in exports, a Reuters poll showed on Monday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to have expanded 4.35 percent in the October-December period versus a year earlier, the poll of 22 economists showed. GDP grew 2.32 percent year-on-year in the third quarter.
The economists’ forecasts for preliminary GDP data due on Wednesday varied widely from an expansion of just 1.5 percent to as much as 6.5 percent .
Taiwan’s exports emerged from a year-long decline in September.
Fourth-quarter exports rose 3.4 percent versus the same period in 2022, compared with the third quarter’s annual contraction of 5.1 percent , while the island’s trade surplus leapt an on-year 131 percent in the final three months of the year.
Domestic consumption has also bounced back well following the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, restaurant chain Wowprime said it aims to hire some 400 new employees in the first quarter given booming demand.
“Fourth-quarter growth was mainly because of good private consumption, and the trade surplus wasn’t bad either,” said Kevin Wang, an analyst at Taishin Securities Investment Advisory.
Economists at DBS wrote last week they expected a strong recovery this year and that GDP would expand 3.5 percent , positioning Taiwan among the outperformers in Asia.
