Coronavirus: Taiwan economy faces ‘double whammy’ as island tightens containment measures
- Following a spike in coronavirus infections, Taiwan has reintroduced strict containment measures that could potentially slow growth in a ‘worst-case scenario’
- The self-ruled island reported just a trickle of daily cases brought in on international flights in 2020, allowing its economy to grow by 2.98 per cent
Taiwan faces a potential “double whammy” as a surge of coronavirus cases and the reintroduction of containment measures threaten to derail the pace of growth in an economy that outperformed most of the world last year, economists said.
While much of the globe was reeling from the impact of the pandemic, Taiwan reported just a trickle of daily cases brought in on international flights in 2020, allowing its economy to grow by 2.98 per cent.
“In the very worst-case scenario, if this drags further and we get increasing numbers of infections where the source can’t be determined, and it spreads beyond the northern part of the island, with factories having to shut or stop production, that will be a double whammy on the economy this year,” said Tony Phoo, senior economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Taipei.
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An outbreak that stretched on for up to four weeks would have little effect on consumer spending, but one that lasted months and affected the manufacturing centres in the south could hit expenditure and possibly the production of tech gear, he added.