03.CEP
06/08/09  21:04:49
Exports will show positive annual growth late this year: MOF
    Taipei,  June 6 (CNA)  The Ministry  of Finance  (MOF)  predicted
Monday that the annual growth rate for Taiwanese exports will turn
from negative to positive this year, but not until November or
December.
    Lin Lee-jen, director of the ministry's Department of Statistics,
noted that exports  in the first 10 months of last year were high and
she made her forecast based on this high comparison base.
    Taiwan's exports in November 2008 totaled US$16.77 billion,  down
sharply from the preceding month's US$20.81 billion.
    Lin's  remarks  came  as the  department  unveiled  May's  export
figures, which amounted to US$16.17 billion, a new high over the past
six months and an increase of 8.9 percent,  or US$1.33 billion,  over
the April figure.
    However, the amount represented a decrease of US$7.42 billion, or
31.4 percent,  from the same month  of last year,  a smaller  decline
than the average  of 36 percent  for the first  four months  and also
less than the drop of 41.9 percent recorded last December.
    The MOF said this shows that "export decline has slowed down" and
that "exports will gradually pick up."
    Imports  in  May  totaled  US$13.01  billion,  up for  the  fifth
consecutive year and representing  an increase of US$300 million from
April, giving the country a trade surplus of US$3.17 billion.
    Lin said Taiwan's  exports to major trading partners all recorded
increases.  Among them,  the increases were most visible in the China
and Hong Kong figures,  followed by the six Association  of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries -- Singapore, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
    The ratio of exports to China and Hong Kong accounted for 41.7
percent of the total exports for May, up from 29.9 percent recorded
for January this year, while the ratio for ASEAN accounted for 15
percent of the total and the ratios for the United States, Europe and
Japan were 11.4 percent, 10.3 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively.
    Among the export increases,  electronics  products  increased  by
US$230 million, chemicals increased by US$210 million and optical
instrument increased by US$200 million.
(By Lilian Wu)
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