Economic downers

No matter how deep you are in the mountains, there's always some McDonald's trash around.

The latest economic news is in and most of it is not good. ECFA has once again boosted Taiwan's exports to new heights failed to drive growth...

Taiwan's exports have fallen for the sixth straight month:

Taiwan's exports suffered a 11.9 percent year-on-year decline in July, the sixth consecutive month in which they registered a drop, according to customs statistics released Friday by the Ministry of Finance.

July exports amounted to US$23.55 billion, while imports in that month fell 17.4 percent year-on-year to US$19.93 billion, the tallies show. The trade balance for the month was favorable, reaching US$3.62 billion, the ministry said.

This came on the heels of news that economic growth is in a long term slump, with second quarter growth the worst in three years:

Taiwan's gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of this year rose 0.64 percent from a year earlier, compared with an earlier forecast of a 3.05 percent increase, according to an advance estimate released by the government Friday.

Bloomberg reported:

Taiwan’s exports have fallen in five of six months this year as demand waned in the top destinations of China and the U.S. The island’s manufacturers are also battling with mainland firms upgrading their supply chains, while local consumption has been hurt by a fall in property and share prices.

“With its heavy concentration in the electronics sector, second-quarter GDP was hurt by the unusually low level of activity in the electronics supply chain,” said Wai Ho Leong, a Singapore-based regional economist at Barclays Plc. “This was then compounded” by the stock slide, he said.

At least our Forex holdings are at record levels.

To the extent that people vote their pocketbooks, this is good news for Tsai Ing-wen. it will undermine both the KMT's claim to economic management prowess, and any promises that KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu will make about the economy. Unlikely though it might be, it may help James Soong, if he can somehow evoke the spirit of the miracle years and Chiang Ching-kuo....

But it's very bad news for the people of Taiwan...
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