CIA Factbook The World Factbook 1994: TaiwanEconomy 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 GDP, 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, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The tightening of labor markets has led to an influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal. National product: GDP—purchasing power equivalent—$224 billion (1993 est.) National product real growth rate: 6% (1993 est.) National product per capita: $10,600 (1993 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.2% (1993 est.) Unemployment rate: 1.5% (1992 est.) Budget: • revenues: $30.3 billion • expenditures: $30.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1991 est.) Exports: $85 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.) • commodities: electrical machinery 19.7%, electronic products 19.6%, textiles 10.9%, footwear 3.3%, foodstuffs 1.0%, plywood and wood products 0.9% (1993 est.) • partners: US 27.6%, Hong Kong 21.7%, EC countries 15.2%, Japan 10.5% (1993 est.) Imports: $77.1 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.) • commodities: machinery and equipment 15.7%, electronic products 15.6%, chemicals 9.8%, iron and steel 8.5%, crude oil 3.9%, foodstuffs 2.1% (1993 est.) • partners: Japan 30.1%, US 21.7%, EC countries 17.6% (1993 est.) External debt: $620 million (1992 est.) Industrial production: growth rate 3.6% (1993 est.); accounts for more than 40% of GDP Electricity: • capacity: 18,382,000 kW • production: 98.5 billion kWh • consumption per capita: 4,718 kWh (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: • recipient: 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—26.6 (1993), 25.4 (1992), 25.748 (1991), 27.108 (1990), 26.407 (1989) Fiscal year: 1 July–30 June