TAIWAN narrowly dodged a recession in the third quarter even as the economy contracted for the first time since the global financial crisis, with exporters suffering a crippling blow from faltering global demand and a slowdown on the Chinese mainland.

    Gross domestic product contracted a worse than expected 1.01 percent in the July-September period from a year ago, preliminary figures from the island province’s government showed Friday. That compared with a forecast of a 0.6 percent decline in a Reuters poll, and 0.52 percent growth in the second quarter.

    The grim data, the trade-reliant economy’s first contraction in six years, could pressure the province’s “central bank” to ease monetary policy further, after it cut rates for the first time since the global financial crisis in late September.

    (SD-Agencies)