TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s economy is likely to grow more than 6% this year, Finance Minister Su Jain-rong said on Wednesday, offering a forecast slightly more optimistic than the central bank’s outlook last week.
Su made the comment while taking lawmaker questions in parliament.
Last week, the central bank had revised up the island’s annual growth outlook as strong exports bolstered a trade-reliant economy that has boomed even in the face of local COVID-19 cases, which are now well under control.
The central bank raised its 2021 estimate for gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 5.75% from the 5.08% forecast in June.
Growth hit 3.11% in 2020, after expanding 2.71% in 2019.
Taiwan’s GDP expanded by 7.43% in the second quarter of 2021, down from 8.92% in the first quarter, pulled lower by a partial lockdown to prevent domestic COVID-19 infections from spreading.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
