Taiwan Export Growth Tops Month's Target  
  

Taiwan's export growth rose faster than estimated in April, taking the monthly value of overseas shipments to a record and bolstering the case for higher borrowing costs.

Shipments abroad gained 24.6 per cent from a year earlier, compared with 16.7 per cent in March, the Ministry of Finance said in Taipei. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 17 economists was for an 18 per cent advance. The value of exports rose to $27.32 billion for the month. Imports rose 25.7 per cent for a trade surplus of $2.96 billion.

Taiwan's government forecasts export-fuelled economic growth of 5.04 per cent in 2011 and a jump in the pace of inflation to 2.18 per cent from 0.96 per cent in 2010. President Ma Ying-Jeou said last week the minimum wage will be raised again by no less than the 3 per cent increase due to be given to civil servants on July 1, as officials seek to help people cope with higher costs.

"Recovering demand from China and the US will continue to boost export growth, providing room for the central bank to raise rates again in 2011 to contain inflation and curb home prices," Aidan Wang, a Taipei-base economist at Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting, said before the release.

Officials will raise borrowing costs by 0.125 per centage point at each of the three remaining quarterly rate meetings in 2011, he said.

Exports have weathered a more than 6 per cent appreciation in the island's currency against its US counterpart in the past six months, the biggest climb in Asia.

From   Bloomberg