AFP, Taipei :
Taiwan sank into recession in October-December, data showed Friday, posting its slowest annual growth in six years, with weak international demand and greater competition from China hitting the export-dependent island. The growth rate of 0.85 percent in 2015 missed an earlier official forecast of 1.06 percent.
The full-year figure was dragged down by an unexpected contraction in the three months through December, the second straight quarter of declines that meets the definition of a technical recession. “Inventories of electronic products continue to be digested, affected by weak global growth,” the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said in a statement.
It also cited the rise of technology manufacturing — a key sector for Taiwan — in China and declines in raw materials as factors for the struggling economy.
Taiwan sank into recession in October-December, data showed Friday, posting its slowest annual growth in six years, with weak international demand and greater competition from China hitting the export-dependent island. The growth rate of 0.85 percent in 2015 missed an earlier official forecast of 1.06 percent.
The full-year figure was dragged down by an unexpected contraction in the three months through December, the second straight quarter of declines that meets the definition of a technical recession. “Inventories of electronic products continue to be digested, affected by weak global growth,” the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said in a statement.
It also cited the rise of technology manufacturing — a key sector for Taiwan — in China and declines in raw materials as factors for the struggling economy.
