TIER Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤, third left)

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER), one of the country's leading think tanks, forecast 2.3 percent GDP growth for 2018 on Wednesday, citing increased domestic demand as a key factor.

TIER officials shared their GDP growth forecast of 2.3 percent for next year at an economic forecast forum. The forecast is higher than the 2.27 percent from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics' and currently the highest of the main economic research organizations.

According to TIER Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), a lot of the factors that have held back economic performance this year, such as Brexit and the Chinese Communist Party's 19th National Congress, are receding. Combined with the strong performance of the economies of the U.S, Japan, and major European countries, 2018 will continue the economic growth trends that characterized 2017.

For Taiwan, Gordon Sun (孫明德), director of TIER's Economic Forecasting Center, forecast private consumption growth of 2.1 percent and private investment growth of 1.9 percent for the upcoming year.

Meanwhile, exports, which have been a key factor in Taiwan's rebounding economy, will grow at 3.26 percent and imports at 3.11 percent.

Sun indicated there has been a recent boost in private consumption, as evidenced by reported sales at department stores and the rebound of the tourism industry.

These factors, along with the government's pay raise for public employees, which goes into effect Jan. 1, will contribute towards the predicted economic growth.

The GDP growth for 2017 is currently predicted at 2.5 percent, a figure that was arrived at after being raised multiple times throughout the year. The original GDP growth forecast for the year was 1.65 percent, showing that economic forecasts are inherently subject to change.

(By Tsai Yi-chu and Kuan-lin Liu)
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