A local think tank has upgraded its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth in 2014 to 3.15%.
The forecast, released Tuesday by the Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) was 0.1 percentage point higher than the 3.05% predicted earlier.
CIER President Wu Chung-shu said that although the global economy has gradually recovered, the local economy has not rebounded strongly enough. Still, he said Taiwan is expected to maintain a moderate growth.
“GDP growth should be able to stay above 3%, partly due to the lower base period last year. However, because of slow recovery in exports and domestic demand, recovery is not robust enough,” said Wu.
The think tank said other uncertainties could also affect Taiwan’s economy, including geopolitical crises, slow growth in emerging markets, China’s economic slowdown, increased competitiveness across the Taiwan Strait, as well as weakening in foreign trade and troubles with electricity generation domestically.
The think tank also warned that Taiwan’s exports will be seriously affected if the free trade agreement inked between China and South Korea becomes effective at the end of this year.