Taiwan Trade Surplus Shrinks In April

(RTTNews) - Taiwan's foreign trade surplus decreased somewhat in April as imports rose faster than exports, preliminary figures from the Ministry of Finance revealed on Wednesday.

The trade surplus dropped to $6.46 billion in April from $6.83 billion in the corresponding month last year. The surplus also declined from $8.68 billion in March.

Exports grew 4.3 percent year-over-year in April, which was much slower than the 18.9 percent surge in the prior month. Economists had forecast 10.15 percent growth.

Shipments of information, communication, and audio-video products jumped 114.6 percent annually in April, while those of parts of electronic products slid by 17.7 percent.

Imports grew 6.6 percent annually in April after a 7.1 percent rebound in March. That was below the 7.6 percent rise expected by economists.