Taiwan Q2 GDP grows at slowest in two years on China lockdowns, COVID
2022.07.29 11:50
Cranes are pictured during a rainy day at a construction site in Taipei, Taiwan, November 26, 2021. REUTERS/Annabelle Chih
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s economy grew at its slowest pace in two years in the second quarter and performed slightly worse than expected, hit by supply chain woes and a domestic surge in COVID-19 cases.
For the April-June period, annual gross domestic product(GDP) grew by 3.08% from the same period a year earlier, compared with 3.14% for the previous quarter, preliminary data from the statistics agency showed on Friday.
That was below an increase of 3.1% forecast in a Reuters poll, and the slowest pace since eking out 0.63% growth in the second quarter of 2020 when the pandemic began to race around the world.
As a key hub in the global technology supply chain for giants such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Taiwan’s economy has outperformed many regional peers during the COVID-19 pandemic, benefiting from robust demand for tech exports as more people have turned to working and studying from home.
A global shortage of semiconductors has also filled Taiwan chip makers’ order books and driven them to expand production at home.
But supply chain problems caused by lockdowns in its largest trading partner China to control COVID-19, plus a domestic coronavirus outbreak have weighed on Taiwan’s trade-dependent economy.
The statistics office said exports in the second quarter had been impacted by both China’s lockdowns and slowing demand for consumer electronics, while domestic consumption was affected by Taiwan’s own COVID-19 outbreak.
Total second-quarter exports rose 15.38% from a year earlier in U.S. dollar terms, the agency said.
