Preliminary Q4 GDP 0.86 yy vs Q3 4.01 Reuters poll 1.3
2022 preliminary GDP 2.43 vs 2021 6.53
Q4 exports 8.63 yy in U.S. dollar terms
Revised data, including 2023 outlook, to be released later

TAIPEI, Jan 18 Reuters Taiwan39;s tradedependent economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, putting in its worst performance in 13 years, hit by a drop in exports on slowing global tech demand and COVIDrelated chaos in its largest market China.

For the OctoberDecember period, annual gross domestic product GDP contracted by 0.86 from the same period a year earlier, compared with 4.01 growth for the previous quarter, preliminary data from the statistics agency showed on Wednesday.

That was worse than an increase of 1.3 forecast in a Reuters poll, and the worst quarterly performance since the economy contracted 1.13 in the third quarter of 2009, when the world was dealing with a financial crisis.

Compared with the previous quarter, Taiwan39;s economy contracted 4.24 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate.

External demand has weakened significantly, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said, pointing to global inflation and interest rate rises suppressing demand and the deterioration of the pandemic in mainland China interfering with consumption and production activities.

For all of 2022, the economy expanded a preliminary 2.43, compared to 6.53 logged for 2021. That was slightly slower than last year39;s 3 growth recorded in China, which…