Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with
gradually decreasing guidance of investment and foreign trade by
government authorities. In keeping with this trend, some large
government-owned banks and industrial firms are being privatized. Real
growth in GDP has averaged about 8% during the past three decades.
Exports have grown even faster and have provided the primary impetus
for industrialization. Inflation and unemployment are low; the trade
surplus is substantial; and foreign reserves are the world's third
largest. Agriculture contributes 3% to GDP, down from 35% in 1952.
Traditional labor-intensive industries are steadily being moved
off-shore and 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. Because of its conservative financial approach and its
entrepreneurial strengths, Taiwan suffered little compared with many
of its neighbors from the Asian financial crisis in 1998-99. Growth in
2000 should pick up a bit from 1999, backed by expansion in domestic
consumption, exports, and private investment.

purchasing power parity - $357 billion (1999 est.)

5.5% (1999 est.)

purchasing power parity - $16,100 (1999 est.)

agriculture: 3%
industry: 33%
services: 64% (1999 est.)

1% (1999 est.)

lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

0.4% (1999 est.)

9.7 million (1999 est.)

services 55%, industry 37%, agriculture
8% (1999 est.)

2.9% (1999 est.)

revenues: $36.82 billion
expenditures: $40.53 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1999 est.)

electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, textiles, iron
and steel, machinery, cement, food processing

7.5% (1999 est.)

133.586 billion kWh (1998)

fossil fuel: 65.91%
hydro: 7.84%
nuclear: 26.25%
other: 0% (1998)

124.235 billion kWh (1998)

0 kWh (1998)

0 kWh (1998)

rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs,
poultry, beef, milk; fish

$121.6 billion (f.o.b., 1999)

electronics, electric and machinery equipment
52%, metals, textiles, plastics, chemicals

US 26%, Hong Kong 21%, Europe 18%, Japan 10%,
Singapore 3% (1999)

$101.7 billion (c.i.f., 1999)

electronics, electric and machinery equipment
45%, minerals, precision instruments

Japan 27%, US 18%, Europe 16%, South Korea 6%,
Malaysia 4% (1999)

$35 billion (September 1999)

$NA

1 New Taiwan dollar (NT$) = 100 cents

New Taiwan dollars per US$1 - 31.395 (yearend 1999),
32.216 (1998), 32.052 (1997), 27.5 (1996), 27.5 (1995)

1 July - 30 June (up to FY98/99); 1 July 1999 - 31
December 2000 for FY00; calendar year (after FY00)