TAIPEI: Taiwan's economy grew by a much lower-than-expected 1.54 percent in the three months to March as it was hit by sluggish exports, the government said Tuesday.
The figure followed 3.72 percent expansion in the previous quarter, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said in a preliminary report.
"The growth momentum was not as strong as we had been expected," an official from the budgeting agency said, referring to a forecast of 3.26 percent growth released in February.
Weak demand for products in the information and telecommunication, as well as machinery and petrochemical sectors were to blame for the economy's worse-than-forecast performance.
The export-reliant economy grew 1.26 percent in 2012, its slowest pace in three years owing to shrinking exports.
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