Taiwan's exports are expected to hit a record high this year after reaching US$23.9 billion in July, the second highest monthly total since the global credit tsunami in late 2008 triggered an economic meltdown. Exports in July were 38.5 percent higher than the same period a year earlier while imports rose 42.7 percent to US$21.74 billion, said Lin Li-chen, the chief statistician of the Ministry of Finance. For the first seven months of the year, exports rose 47.4 percent year-on-year to US$155.82 billion, while imports were up 61 percent compared to the same period last year to US$141.73 billion, she said. The statistician attributed the strong growth to the global economic recovery, especially in Asia. Taiwan's exports in the first seven months of the year to China, Hong Kong, the biggest six Association of Southeast Asian Nations members, Japan and South Korea, were the highest on record. With the International Monetary Fund revising its forecast for global growth in 2010 upward to 4.6 percent, and Taiwan's exports usually stronger in the second half of the year, Lin estimated exports for the year would total US$272.98 billion, which would far exceed the previous annual high of US$255.6 billion in 2008. Meanwhile, Cheng Cheng-mount, chief economist with Citibank Taiwan, predicted that exports would grow by 5 percent to 15 percent in the third quarter. Yang Chia-Yan, director of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research's Research Division VI, said the prospects for exports should be bright if Taiwan's currency does not appreciate too much in value. 