Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance announced that the exports for May rose 5.8% monthly to $23.54 billion; on a yearly basis, the decline widened to 9.6%, exceeding the expected drop of 8.5% and marking a sixteenth-month decline, AAStocks reported. Meanwhile, imports rose 14.8% monthly to $20.04 billion; but yearly drop narrowed to 3.4%, less than the expected 10.3% fall. During the same period, trade surplus narrowed to $3.5 billion as compared to the previous month and fell $1.79 billion yearly. The near double-digit percent fall in the data, a gauge of world appetite for high-tech gadgets, comes amid easing expectations for an imminent US rate rise and reinforces the view Taiwan’s central bank will likely cut rates for the fourth straight meeting this month as economic growth slows. “There is little chance exports in June can grow,” said Yeh Maan-Tzwu, director of statistics department with the finance ministry, which issued the data on Tuesday. “But the decline will certainly narrow.”
