Taiwan--Economy
CIA FactbookThe World Factbook 1993: Taiwan Economy

Overview: Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with considerable government guidance of investment and foreign trade and partial government ownership of some large banks and industrial firms. Real growth in GNP has averaged about 9% a year during the past three decades. Export growth has been even faster and has provided the impetus for industrialization. Agriculture contributes about 4% to GNP, down from 35% in 1952. Taiwan currently ranks as number 13 among major trading countries. Traditional labor-intensive industries are steadily being replaced with more capital- and technology-intensive industries. Taiwan has become a major investor in China, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. The tightening of labor markets has led to an influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal.

National product: GNP - purchasing power equivalent - $209 billion (1992 est.)

National product real growth rate: 6.7% (1992 est.)

National product per capita: $10,000 (1992 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.4% (1992 est.)

Unemployment rate: 1.6% (1992 est.)

Budget: revenues $30.3 billion; expenditures $30.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY91 est.)

Exports: $82.4 billion (f.o.b., 1992 est.) commodities: electrical machinery 18.5%, textiles 14.7%, general machinery and equipment 17.7%, footwear 4.5%, foodstuffs 1.1%, plywood and wood products 1.1% (1992 est.) partners: US 29.1%, Hong Kong 18.7%, EC countries 17.1% (1992 est.) Imports: $72.1 billion (c.i.f., 1992 est.) commodities: machinery and equipment 15.8%, chemicals 10.0%, crude oil 4.2%, foodstuffs 2.1% (1992 est.) partners: Japan 30.3%, US 21.9%, EC countries 17.1% (1992 est.)

External debt: $620 million (1992 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 6.5% (1992 est.); accounts for more than 40% of GDP

Electricity: 18,382,000 kW capacity; 98,500 million kWh produced, 4,718 kWh per capita (1992)

Industries: electronics, textiles, chemicals, clothing, food processing, plywood, sugar milling, cement, shipbuilding, petroleum refining

Agriculture: accounts for 4% of GNP and 16% of labor force (includes part-time farmers); heavily subsidized sector; major crops - vegetables, rice, fruit, tea; livestock - hogs, poultry, beef, milk; not self-sufficient in wheat, soybeans, corn; fish catch increasing, reached 1.4 million metric tons in 1988

Illicit drugs: an important heroin transit point; also a major drug money laundering center

Economic aid: US, including Ex-Im (FY46-82), $4.6 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $500 million

Currency: 1 New Taiwan dollar (NT$)=100 cents

Exchange rates: New Taiwan dollars per US$1 - 25.125 (1992 est.), 25.748 (1991), 27.108 (1990), 26.407 (1989) 28.589 (1988), 31.845 (1987)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June