2024.01.3109:49:00UTC+00Taiwan GDP Grows 5.12%, Strongest In 2 Years

Taiwan's economy expanded at the fastest pace in two years in the final quarter amid strong growth in private consumption, a preliminary estimate by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics revealed on Wednesday.

Gross domestic product advanced 5.12 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter, faster than the 2.32 percent rise in the previous quarter. The expected growth rate was 4.35 percent.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, GDP grew sharply by 8.79 percent versus a 7.81 percent expansion in the September quarter.

On the expenditure side, private final consumption alone rose 5.44 percent, mainly driven by expenditures on services such as transportation, travel, and recreation, as well as consumption on vehicles and the flourishing outbound tourism.

Government consumption expenditures gained 0.79 percent. On the other hand, gross capital formation continued to decline, notably by 8.68 percent, due to lower investment in machinery equipment.

Data showed that exports showed an increase of 3.58 percent, while imports dropped by 4.26 percent.

During the whole year 2023, overall GDP growth was 1.4 percent, compared with 2.59 percent in 2022. Further, the latest rate of expansion was the weakest since 2010.