Taiwan's GDP May Grow 2.5% after Joining TPP

Taipei, July 3, 2012 (CENS)--Joining the Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement (TTP) may enable Taiwan to raise its gross domestic product (GDP) by US$11.562 billion or 2.5%, estimates M.S. Chen, deputy director general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), believing that Taiwan's position in the Asia-Pacific can be strengthened with such membership.

TPP has nine members, namely, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam, whose GDP accounts for 25.61% of the global total, which will rise to 29.77% with Canada and Mexico also in the group, or as high as 38.19% with Japan a member.

Membership in the TPP calls for mutually opening of markets. Taiwan will see an increase of US$11.562 billion in GDP by joining, which will benefit the textile, chemicals, plastic & rubber products, garment, leather, metal products, and auto parts sectors, with Taiwan's service industry to generate a rise of US$2.757 billion in revenue and export a growth of US$10.6 billion.

However, Taiwan is obliged to relax restrictions and/or remove barriers on some industries before starting negotiations with TPP members; for instance, import duties on agricultural products averaging 12.85% may have to be lowered.

The MOEA hopes to become a TPP member in five or six years, much earlier than the eight years that President Ma Ying-jeou expects, Chen said.