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

NOTE: The information regarding Taiwan on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Taiwan Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Taiwan Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.