Taiwan’s government has pledged to try to keep the world supplied with chips even as COVID-19 cases escalate, while anticipating a limited impact from its worst outbreak so far.
If only domestic consumption is hit and the outbreak ends by June 30, gross domestic product growth may be cut by 0.16 percentage points, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin said at a briefing in Taipei on Tuesday. If the outbreak extends into the third quarter, the hit could be 0.53 points. But the economy could still expand over 5% this year, said Kung, whose agency isn’t responsible for assessing GDP.
The government in February raised its forecast for GDP growth to 4.64%, betting that a global scramble for semiconductors will boost exports. But that was before an explosion of coronavirus cases this month, which has compounded the impact of a worsening drought and periodic power cuts.