Taiwan's economy likely to grow 1.72 percent in Q1: statistical agency

TAIPEI -- Taiwan's economy is estimated to have grown by 1.72 percent in the first quarter of this year, mainly due to weaker consumption, the island's statistical agency said Tuesday.

The estimated 1.72-percent growth in the January-March period marked the slowest pace since June 2016, according to the agency.

Taiwan's export orders, a leading indicator of actual exports in the coming months, fell for the fifth straight month in March, as manufacturers received fewer orders for tech products.

Contribution to the economic growth by exports turned negative in the first quarter, pulling down the economic growth by 0.05 percentage points.

In February, the statistical agency cut its forecast for Taiwan's economic growth to 2.27 percent, down from a forecast of 2.41 percent made in November.

The economic weakness was also reflected by the latest monthly composite index for the manufacturing sector, released by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER), a leading economic think tank, on Tuesday.

The monthly composite index for Taiwan's manufacturing sector continued to fall for a fifth consecutive month in March, flashing a "blue light" that signals a recession.

The manufacturing index dipped slightly by 0.06 points from a month earlier to 9.53 points, according to the TIER survey.

Under TIER's five-color system to assess the sentiment of the manufacturing sector, a blue light (10.5 points and below) indicates recession, yellow-blue light (10.5-13 points) means sluggishness, green light (13-16 points) signals stable growth, yellow-red (16-18.5 points) suggests fast growth and red light (above 18.5 points) represents prosperity.

The latest manufacturing barometer has remained in the contraction field for five months since November 2018, after being sluggish for another five months since June last year.

About 71.14 percent of manufacturers covered by the think tank's monthly survey flashed a blue light in March, up from 69.78 percent in February, while 23.88 percent flashed a yellow-blue light, down from 26.39 percent in February.

No manufacturers flashed a red light for prosperity or a yellow-red light for fast growth.