Taiwan disappoints with slowing growth rate

Taiwan's economy expanded at a slower pace than economists estimated in the first quarter as a faltering global recovery hurt exports, increasing pressure on the central bank to extend an interest-rate pause to aid growth.

Gross domestic product rose 1.54 per cent in the three months to March from a year earlier, after increasing 3.72 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, the statistics bureau said in a preliminary report yesterday.

The gain was less than all estimates in a survey of 17 economists, where the median was 3.1 per cent.

The island's growth slowdown adds to signs of a cooling global economy after mainland China and the United States expanded less than analysts estimated last quarter.

Taiwan's export orders and industrial output unexpectedly dropped in March, while Japanese and South Korean production missed forecasts as faltering demand limited Asia's recovery.

"Taiwan's GDP is a reflection of a sluggish global recovery and the decline of global demand, notably from China," said Raymond Yeung, a Hong Kong-based senior economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group.