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 6% 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.

GNP: $121.4 billion, per capita $6,000; real growth rate 7.2% (1989)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.0% (1989)

Unemployment rate: 1.7% (1989)

Budget: revenues $25.9 billion; expenditures $33.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY89)

Exports: $66.2 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities--textiles 9.7%, electrical machinery 19.0%, general machinery and equipment 14%, telecommunications equipment 9%, basic metals and metal products 7.4%, foodstuffs 0.9%, plywood and wood products 1.3%; partners--US 36.2%, Japan 13.7%

Imports: $52.2 billion (c.i.f., 1989); commodities--machinery and equipment 15.9%, crude oil 5%, chemical and chemical products 11.1%, basic metals 7.4%, foodstuffs 2.0%; partners--Japan 31%, US 23%, Saudi Arabia 8.6%

External debt: $1.0 billion (December 1989 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 4.1% (1988)

Electricity: 17,000,000 kW capacity; 68,000 million kWh produced, 3,360 kWh per capita (1989)

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

Agriculture: accounts for 6% of GNP and 20% of labor force (includes part-time farmers); heavily subsidized sector; major crops--rice, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, fruits, vegetables; livestock--hogs, poultry, beef, milk, cattle; not self-sufficient in wheat, soybeans, corn; fish catch expanding, 1.1 million metric tons in (1987)

Aid: US, including Ex-Im (FY46-82), $4.6 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $439 million

Currency: new Taiwan dollar (plural--dollars); 1 new Taiwan dollar (NT$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: new Taiwan dollars per US$1--26.3 (March 1990), 26.156 (December 1989), 28.589 (1988), 31.845 (1987), 37.838 (1986), 39.849 (1985)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June

NOTE: The information regarding Taiwan on this page is re-published from the 1990 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Taiwan Economy 1990 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Taiwan Economy 1990 should be addressed to the CIA.