AmCham survey: Greater optimism for economic outlook despite virus outbreak

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis, most member companies of AmCham Taipei showed increased optimism about Taiwan’s economic outlook, according to the organization’s 2020 Business Climate Survey.

The poll, conducted from Jan. 14 to Feb. 17, also found that the majority of business leaders surveyed believed that the U.S.-China trade dispute has had a mainly positive impact on Taiwan’s economy and has not had a large negative effect on their business.

About 60% of the survey-takers expressed confidence about Taiwan’s economic growth over the coming 12 months, up from 46% a year ago. Even after the coronavirus epidemic erupted during the survey period, a majority of respondents still expressed confidence regarding growth in 2020.

The level of optimism was even higher over a three-year timeframe, with 70.6% giving a positive response, compared with 54% in 2019. Last year, the U.S.-China trade dispute created uncertainty that weighed on business confidence.

Other major findings in the 2020 survey:

• Only 10.75% of respondents said the U.S.-China trade dispute has had a large impact on their business.
• Nearly half of survey-takers said that the trade dispute’s overall impact on Taiwan so far has been mainly positive, due to the return of manufacturing operations from China.
• 35% of the companies expect to increase employment in 2020.
• Fewer respondents – 36% compared to last year’s 59% – expressed dissatisfaction with the level of attention that business receives from top policymakers in Taiwan.
• Progress was seen regarding energy policy, labor policy, and the regulatory framework, but more effort is still needed. Strong support was shown for an FTA with the U.S.

The survey, with a 50.3% response rate, was sent to 391 of AmCham’s voting representatives. Technical guidance for the survey was provided by the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.