A mockup of an HTC Butterfly smartphone and a Desire C smartphone are displayed in a mobile phone shop in Taipei. (Photo : Reuters)
Taiwan is set to surpass other Asian tigers for the fourth straight quarter as it reported an economic growth of 3.5 percent in the first quarter, based on the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
The report said that the growth is 1 percentage point higher than the projection for Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong.
The growth has pushed Taiwan's currency to the top of Asia this year and drove the benchmark equity index to about 10,000 for the first time in 15 years, the report added.
Taiwan's growth from manufacturing to a more modern, consumer-oriented economy must be emulated by China, which is trying to make a similar transition.
The island drew its strength from its central bank, one of the holdouts from a global easing wave that includes other Asian tigers such as South Korea and Singapore.
Taiwan, together with Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea, became known as the Asian tigers following the rapid industrialization and export in the 1970s. Hong Kong and Singapore later became financial centers, while Taiwan and Korea grew due to their technology exports.
Taiwan took advantage of the consumer electronics boom as some companies tried to establish global brands. Two of the largest public companies in Taiwan earned high profits when they became the suppliers for Apple, Inc. As a result, sales of iPhone rose 40 percent in the last quarter to 61.2 million with the demand for new models in 2014.
Despite this, Taiwan's exports are affected by cheaper oil. It is also battling deflation, with consumer prices on oil importers dropping in the last three months.
