July 12, 2007
With stronger-than-expected exports and rising domestic consumption, Academia Sinica has raised its projections this year for Taiwan's gross domestic product growth rate to 4.46%, up from its previous estimate of 4.21%.
The announcement was made at a press conference, presided over by research fellow Wu Chung-shu, to coincide with the release of the premier research institution's latest economic outlook report.
Private consumption growth will rise to 2.57% from 1.45%, thanks to a strong performance in the stock and real estate markets, said Wu.
With the US economy expected to pick up in the latter half of the year, demand for Taiwan exports should increase, according to Wu. Exports of goods and services are projected to grow by 7.63%, while imports of goods and services are projected to grow by 4.81%, a slight dip from 5.42%, according to Academia Sinica's latest report.
Domestic investment in 2007 will likely shrink from 3.26% last year to 2.4%, due to uncertain factors related to the upcoming legislative and presidential elections in 2008 and economic adjustments to the industrial structure, said Wu.
Due to rising oil prices, the wholesale price index will grow to 6.31%, up from 5.64% last year, said the Academia Sinica report. Meanwhile, consumer prices could increase by 1.43% as oil prices are expected to remain at
USD 65 per barrel for the rest of the year, said Wu.
Wu also projected that in 2007, the New Taiwan dollar would remain around
NTD 33 against the dollar on strong demand for Asian currencies.
(Central News Agency)
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