Taiwan's economic performance for the first quarter of 2025 was revised, indicating an annual growth rate of 5.48%, up from the initial estimate of 5.37%. This marks an increase from the revised 3.82% growth experienced in the previous quarter. The export sector experienced a robust increase of 20.29%, driven largely by heightened global demand for electronic information and communication technologies, while imports saw a surge of 24.43%. Private final consumption also experienced a moderate rise of 1.36%.
In terms of production, the manufacturing sector expanded significantly to 11.03%, up from 6.61% in the fourth quarter of 2024, largely attributed to the boosted output in semiconductors, computers, electronics, and optical products. Additional growth was observed in sectors such as wholesale and retail trade (3.32% compared to 2.75%), transportation and storage (2.88% compared to 0.92%), as well as financial and insurance services (6.37% versus 11.84%).
Analyzing the data on a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, GDP rose by 7.25% in the first quarter, following a revised 6.89% increase in the last quarter of 2024. For the year 2024, the economic growth rate was adjusted upward to 4.84%. Meanwhile, Taiwan has revised its GDP growth forecast for 2025 slightly downward to 3.1%, compared to the 3.14% forecasted in February.
