2012.05.02 06:48:14 MARKET TALK: Taiwan GDP Growth May Slow To 3.0% This Year - GS

0448 GMT [Dow Jones] Goldman Sachs maintains a "cautious" stance on Taiwan's 2012 economic growth; it tips the country's GDP growth to slow to 3.0% this year vs 4.04% in 2011 due to the sluggish outlook in major developed markets, limited potential impact from further easing in the current downturn, and negative drag on consumer spending and overall activity growth resulted from the recent fuel and electricity price hikes. Taiwan's 1Q GDP rose 0.4% on year, slowing from 4Q's 1.9% growth and missing the house expectation of 1.0% rise. The house says gross investment was the main area of weakness, posing a negative drag to headline on-year GDP growth by 2.6 percentage points but points out the latest growth in exports orders and manufacturing activities could signal improvement in the upcoming quarters. (jenny.hsu@dowjones.com) Contact us in Singapore. 65 64154 140; MarketTalk@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 02, 2012 00:48 ET (04:48 GMT)