Taiwan Trade Surplus Grows Sharply On Export Surge

(RTTNews) - Taiwan's foreign trade surplus increased notably in August as exports grew faster than imports, preliminary figures from the Ministry of Finance revealed on Monday.

The trade surplus rose to $11.49 billion in August from $8.60 billion in the corresponding month last year. The surplus also grew significantly from $4.83 billion in July. The expected surplus was $4.9 billion.

Exports grew 16.8 percent year-over-year in August, which was much faster than the 3.1 percent rise in the prior month. Economists had forecast 7.1 percent growth.

Shipments of part of electronic products jumped 34.7 percent annually in August, and those of information, communication, and audio-video products climbed by 29.8 percent.

Imports rose 11.8 percent annually in August after a 16.2 percent sharp increase in July. That was below the 15.0 percent rise expected by economists.