At Thursday's meeting of the Cabinet, Premier Lai Ching-te announced that thanks to higher-than-expected growth in exports and consumer spending, the economy grew by 3.29 percent in the second quarter of this year.
The strong performance—reported by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics on July 31—marks the fourth consecutive quarter of economic expansion above 3 percent. Overall growth in the first half of 2018 hit 3.16 percent, setting the quickest pace since 2015 and demonstrating that Taiwan's economy has finally shaken off the stagnation of the past.
The previous two years of economic restructuring have produced an economy that is now gradually strengthening, said the premier. Objective conditions in Taiwan are extremely positive: The nation enjoys an exemplary democracy, open government, and flourishing development among private-sector businesses, making Taiwan an ideal base of global operations. Since the beginning of this year, many well-known companies, both domestic and international, have in fact been steadily increasing investment in Taiwan. The upswing clearly signals that Taiwan's economy is back on track. In the future, the Executive Yuan will devote even greater efforts to its ongoing pursuit of relevant policies, in order to amplify the effects of economic expansion and spread the benefits of growth to all the people of Taiwan.