IMF Forecasts Taiwan's Economic Growth at 4.1 Percent for 2001

The International Monetary Fund forecast in its latest report that Taiwan's economic growth will average around 4.1 percent for 2001 and 5.6 percent for 2002, according Taiwan's local media Friday.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the IMF said Taiwan's growth for this year will be around 4.1 percent, the same as the figure it cited a month ago.

The IMF predicted that global growth in 2001 will continue to weaken, falling to 3.2 percent, the lowest level since 1998, before rebounding to 4 percent in 2002.

Among the major economies surveyed, the IMF said that the US economy will slide noticeably this year to a low growth of 1.5 percent before rebounding slightly to 2.5 percent in 2002. Japan's growth is forecast to be a mere 0.6 percent for this year, compared with Chinese mainland's 7.1 percent.

Among the "Asian tigers," the report ranked Taiwan third for projected economic growth for 2001 at 4.1 percent, behind Singapore's 5 percent and Hong Kong's 4.8 percent, but ahead of Republic of Korea's 3.5 percent.

For 2002, the report ranked Taiwan second in this group with a projected growth of 5.6 percent.






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