Taiwan Q4 GDP beats forecast, rising 3.38%

Taipei, Jan. 21 (CNA) Growth in Taiwan's gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of last year beat an earlier government forecast on the back of better than expected domestic investments, private consumption and exports, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Tuesday.

In a preliminary reading, the DGBAS said the country's GDP grew 3.38 percent in the October-December period, an increase of 0.34 percentage points from an earlier forecast of 3.04 percent made by the agency in November.

Taiwan's GDP rose 1.84 percent, 2.60 percent and 2.99 percent in the first, second and third quarters of last year, the DGBAS said.

After taking into account the preliminary reading of the fourth quarter, the country's economy grew 2.73 percent in 2019, which also beat the November estimate of 2.64 percent, the agency added.

For 2020, the DGBAS forecast in November that Taiwan's economy will grow 2.72 percent, higher than the global average of 2.5 percent forecast by IHS Markit.

The DGBAS said it will release an update of the 2020 GDP forecast on Feb. 12.