Taiwan

Economy - overview:
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 have provided the primary impetus for industrialization. The island runs a large trade surplus, and its foreign reserves are among the world’s largest. Recently opened cross-strait travel, transportation, and tourism links are likely to increase Taiwan and China’s economic interdependence. China has overtaken the US to become Taiwan’s largest export market and its second-largest source of imports, after Japan. China is also the island’s number one destination for foreign direct investment. Growth fell below 2% in 2008 because of the global slowdown.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$738.8 billion (2008 est.)
$725 billion (2007)
$673.1 billion (2006)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$401.6 billion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
1.9% (2008 est.)
5.7% (2007 est.)
4.8% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$31,900 (2008 est.)
$31,100 (2007 est.)
$29,500 (2006 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.5%
industry: 27.8%
services: 70.7% (2008 est.)
Labor force:
10.85 million (2008 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 5.1%
industry: 36.8%
services: 58% (2008 est.)
Unemployment rate:
4.1% (2008 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 6.7%
highest 10%: 41.1% (2002 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
20.9% of GDP (2008 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $50.91 billion
expenditures: $54.7 billion (2008 est.)
Public debt:
30.9% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.7% (2008 est.)
Central bank discount rate:
1.5% (January 2009)
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
4.06% (2008 est.)
Stock of money:
$225.3 billion (November 2008)
Stock of quasi money:
$618 billion (November 2008)
Stock of domestic credit:
$677.8 billion (November 2008)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$654 billion (28 December 2007)
Agriculture - products:
rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs, poultry, beef, milk; fish
Industries:
electronics, petroleum refining, armaments, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals
Industrial production growth rate:
-2% (2008 est.)
Electricity - production:
225.3 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - consumption:
233 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2008)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Oil - production:
1,306 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - consumption:
935,600 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - exports:
340,200 bbl/day (2007)
Oil - imports:
660,400 bbl/day (2007)
Oil - proved reserves:
1.88 million bbl (2008 est.)
Natural gas - production:
416 million cu m (2007)
Natural gas - consumption:
13.6 billion cu m (2007)
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
10.9 billion cu m (2007)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
6.229 billion cu m (1 January 2008)
Current account balance:
$25 billion (2008 est.)
Exports:
$255.7 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities:
electronics, flat panels, machinery, metals, textiles, plastics, chemicals, auto parts (2008)
Exports - partners:
China 32.6%, US 12.9%, Hong Kong 8.6%, Japan 6.4%, Singapore 5% (2007)
Imports:
$236 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities:
electronics, machinery, petroleum, precision instruments, organic chemicals, metals (2008)
Imports - partners:
Japan 22.7%, US 13.3%, China 11.2%, South Korea 6.6%, Saudi Arabia 4.8%, Singapore 4.6% (2007)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$296.4 billion (31 December 2008)
Debt - external:
$109.6 billion (31 December 2008)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$102.3 billion (2008)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$135.3 billion (2008)
Exchange rates:
New Taiwan dollars (TWD) per US dollar - 31.53 (2008 est.), 32.84 (2007), 32.534 (2006), 31.71 (2005), 34.418 (2004)