Taiwan’s GDP contracts in Q2 2020

TAIPEI, Aug 2, 2020, Xinhua. Taiwan’s gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 0.73 percent year-on-year in the second quarter due to the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the island’s statistics agency, Xinhua reported.

It was the first decrease in the past 17 quarters and the worst since the fourth quarter of 2009, the agency has said.

The agency attributed the decline to the impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, which caused a severe reduction of overseas travelers and heavily affected the service sector including the aviation industry, hotel and catering businesses.

Only about 13,000 overseas travelers visited Taiwan in the second quarter, compared with about 1.25 million in the first quarter and 3.07 million in the second quarter of last year, according to the agency.

Private consumption in Taiwan in the second quarter decreased by 5.13 percent, the agency said.

The island’s GDP growth stood at 0.41 percent in the first half of this year.