| Economy | Taiwan |
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Economy - overview:
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Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing government guidance of investment and foreign trade. In keeping with this trend, some large, state-owned banks and industrial firms have been privatized. Exports, led by electronics, machinery, and petrochemicals have provided the primary impetus for economic development. This heavy dependence on exports exposes the economy to fluctuations in world demand. In 2009, Taiwan's GDP contracted 1.9%, due primarily to a 20% year-on-year decline in exports. In 2010 GDP grew 10.9%, as exports returned to the level of previous years, and in 2011, grew 5.2%. However, 2012 growth will likely be less, according to most forecaster, because of softening global demand. Taiwan's diplomatic isolation, low birth rate, and rapidly aging population are major long-term challenges. Free trade agreements have proliferated in East Asia over the past several years, but so far Taiwan has been excluded from this greater economic integration largely because of its diplomatic status with the exception of the landmark Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed with China in June 2010. The Ma administration has said that the ECFA will serve as a stepping stone toward trade pacts with other regional partners, and negotiations on a deal with Singapore began this year. Follow-on components of ECFA, including deals on trade in goods, services, and investment, have yet to be completed. Taiwan's Total Fertility rate of just over one child per woman is among the lowest in the world, raising the prospect of future labor shortages, falling domestic demand, and declining tax revenues. Taiwan's population is aging quickly, with the number of people over 65 accounting for 10.9% of the island's total population as of 2011. The island runs a large trade surplus, and its foreign reserves are the world's fourth largest, behind China, Japan, and Russia. Since 2005 China has overtaken the US to become Taiwan's second-largest source of imports after Japan. China is also the island's number one destination for foreign direct investment. Three financial memorandums of understanding, covering banking, securities, and insurance, took effect in mid-January 2010, opening the island to greater investments from the mainland's financial firms and institutional investors, and providing new opportunities for Taiwan financial firms to operate in China. Closer economic links with the mainland bring greater opportunities for the Taiwan economy, but also poses new challenges as the island becomes more economically dependent on China while political differences remain unresolved. |
GDP (purchasing power parity):
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$885.3 billion (2011 est.)
$841.2 billion (2010 est.)
$758.6 billion (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP - per capita (PPP):
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$37,900 (2011 est.)
$36,300 (2010 est.)
$32,800 (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP (official exchange rate):
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$504.6 billion (2011 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate:
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5.2% (2011 est.)
10.9% (2010 est.)
-1.9% (2009 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 1.3%
industry: 32%
services: 66.9% (2011 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed):
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22.4% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Population below poverty line:
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1.16% (2010 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
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lowest 10%: 6.4%
highest 10%: 40.3% (2010) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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32.6 (2000)
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Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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1.6% (2011 est.)
1% (2010 est.) |
Central bank discount rate:
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1.625% (31 December 2010)
1.25% (February 2009) |
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
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2.8% (31 December 2011 est.)
2.676% (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of money:
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void |
Stock of money - per capita:
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void |
Stock of quasi money:
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$618 billion (November 2008)
$NA (31 December 2007) |
Stock of quasi money - per capita:
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26,786 USD per capita |
Stock of domestic credit:
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$792.2 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$751.5 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of domestic credit - per capita:
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34,337 USD per capita |
Stock of narrow money:
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$429.9 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$377.3 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of broad money:
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$1.134 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
$1.022 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Labor force:
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11.16 million (2011 est.) |
Labor force participation rate:
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48.37 % of population |
Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture: 5.2%
industry: 35.9%
services: 58.8% (2010 est.) |
Unemployment rate:
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4.3% (2011 est.)
5.2% (2010 est.) |
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:
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void |
Budget:
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revenues: $78.44 billion
expenditures: $91.48 billion (2011 est.) |
Budget revenues per capita:
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3,400 USD per capita |
Taxes and other revenues:
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15.5% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-):
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-2.6% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Public debt:
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34.9% of GDP (2011 est.)
33.4% of GDP (2010 est.) |
Industries:
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electronics, communications and information technology products, petroleum refining, armaments, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals |
Industrial production growth rate:
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8.5% (2011 est.) |
Electricity - production:
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229.1 billion kWh (2009) |
Electricity - production per capita:
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9,930 kWh per capita |
Electricity - consumption:
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220.8 billion kWh (2009) |
Electricity - consumption - per capita:
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9,571 kWh per capita |
Electricity - exports:
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0 kWh (2009 est.) |
Electricity - imports:
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0 kWh (2009 est.) |
Oil - production:
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26,680 bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - production per capita:
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1,157 bbl/day per capita |
Oil - consumption:
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1.002 million bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - consumption - per capita:
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15.85 bbl/year per capita |
Oil - exports:
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303,000 bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - imports:
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876,300 bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - proved reserves:
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2.38 million bbl (1 January 2011 est.) |
Natural gas - production:
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310 million cu m (2009 est.) |
Natural gas - production per capita:
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14 cu m per capita |
Natural gas - consumption:
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12.1 billion cu m (2009 est.) |
Natural gas - consumption - per capita:
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525 cu m per capita |
Natural gas - exports:
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0 cu m (2009 est.) |
Natural gas - imports:
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11.79 billion cu m (2009 est.) |
Natural gas - proved reserves:
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6.229 billion cu m (1 January 2011 est.) |
Agriculture - products:
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rice, vegetables, fruit, tea, flowers; pigs, poultry; fish |
Current account balance:
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$40.91 billion (2011 est.)
$39.9 billion (2010 est.) |
Current account balance - per capita:
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1,774 USD per capita |
Exports:
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$325.1 billion (2011 est.)
$273.8 billion (2010 est.) |
Exports per capita:
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14,091 USD per capita |
Exports - commodities:
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electronics, flat panels, machinery; metals; textiles, plastics, chemicals; optical, photographic, measuring, and medical instruments |
Exports - partners:
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China 28.1%, Hong Kong 13.8%, US 11.5%, Japan 6.6%, Singapore 4.4% (2010 est.) |
Imports:
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$298.6 billion (2011 est.)
$247.3 billion (2010 est.) |
Imports per capita:
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12,943 USD per capita |
Imports - commodities:
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electronics, machinery, crude petroleum, precision instruments, organic chemicals, metals |
Imports - partners:
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Japan 20.7%, China 14.2%, US 10%, South Korea 6.4%, Saudi Arabia 4.7% (2010 est.) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
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$418.4 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$387.2 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold - per capita:
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18,135 USD per capita |
Debt - external:
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$116 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$101.7 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Debt - external - per capita:
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5,028 USD per capita |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
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$65.26 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$63.38 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home - per capita:
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2,829 USD per capita |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
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$162.9 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
$145.3 billion (31 December 2009 est.) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad - per capita:
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7,061 USD per capita |
Market value of publicly traded shares:
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$784.1 billion (31 December 2010)
$657.3 billion (31 December 2009)
$354.7 billion (31 December 2008) |
Market value of publicly traded shares - per capita:
|
33,986 USD per capita |
Currency (code):
|
new Taiwan dollar (TWD) |
Exchange rates:
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New Taiwan dollars (TWD) per US dollar -
29.05 (2011 est.)
31.648 (2010 est.)
33.061 (2009)
31.53 (2008)
32.84 (2007) |
Fiscal year:
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calendar year |
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