Taiwan's economy shrank by a record 10.24 per cent from a year earlier in the first quarter of this year as exports plummeted, but officials said yesterday the worst of the economic crisis was over for the island.

The drop in gross domestic product represented Taiwan's biggest decline in output since records began in 1961, and was worse than the 6.51 per cent fall forecast by the government in February. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Taiwan's economy contracted at an annualised rate of 19.36 per cent.