TAIPEI, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan has lowered its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2020 to 1.67 percent from 2.37 percent made in February, due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The island's GDP growth in the first quarter stood at 1.59 percent, the lowest quarterly rate since 2018, the island's statistics agency said in a press release earlier this week.

The agency also cut its 2020 growth forecast for Taiwan's merchandise and services exports by 4.83 percentage points to -3.1 percent.

The growth forecast for private consumption was downgraded by 1.82 percentage points to -0.24 percent, the lowest in Taiwan since 2009, but the forecast for fixed capital formation was raised by 0.23 percentage points to 4.33 percent.

The consumer price index (CPI) for 2020 was expected to decrease by 0.32 percent.

The agency attributed the downgrading forecast to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which undermined the exports to international markets and contained local consumption.