TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released economic statistics on Wednesday (Jan. 31). 

The National Development Council (NDC) said that the weak global end demand and destocking of the industrial chain have impacted Taiwan’s export momentum, according to CNA. Coupled with the increasingly conservative trend in corporate investment, Taiwan’s economic growth rate for 2023 was 1.4%, it said.

However, the NDC explained that the average economic growth rate for Taiwan from 2020 to 2023 was 3.5%, higher than the 2.83% from 2016 to 2019 before the pandemic. This indicated that while Taiwan’s economy faced global economic headwinds, 2023 growth momentum gradually recovered each quarter, the council added.

Among the Four Asian Tigers from 2020-2023, the NDC said the growth rate for South Korea was 1.9%, Hong Kong was -0.1%, and Singapore was 2.45%. Taiwan’s average economic growth rate of 3.5% was the highest, it said.

The NDC said exports grew in December and January, indicating improvement in foreign trade. In addition to recovering business confidence, it is expected to drive better performance in production, investment, and sales, it said.

Additionally, with the expansion of AI and high-speed computing, the NDC is confident that these factors will boost Taiwan’s export momentum.