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@Taiwan:Economy

Economy-overview: Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with
gradually decreasing guidance of investment and foreign trade by
government authorities and partial government ownership of some large
banks and industrial firms. Spillover from the Asian financial crisis
hit Taiwan in the fourth quarter of 1997, wreaking havoc on the stock
and currency markets. While the economy remains sound (the government
forecasts 6% GDP growth for 1998), the New Taiwan Dollar depreciated
20% in 1997. Real growth in GDP has averaged about 8.5% a year during
the past three decades. Export growth has been even faster and has
provided the impetus for industrialization. Inflation and unemployment
are low. Agriculture contributes only 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.

GDP: purchasing power parity-$308 billion (1997 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 6.8% (1997 est.)

GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$14,200 (1997 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 3.3%
industry: 35.7%
services: 61% (1996)

Inflation rate-consumer price index: 0.9% (1997)

Labor force:
total: 9.4 million (1997)
by occupation: services 52%, industry 38%, agriculture 10% (1996 est.)

Unemployment rate: 2.7% (1997)

Budget:
revenues: $40 billion
expenditures: $55 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998
est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate: 7% (1997)

Electricity-capacity: 23.763 million kW (1996)

Electricity-production: 124.973 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity-consumption per capita: 5,500 kWh (1995)

Agriculture-products: rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, vegetables, fruit,
tea; pigs, poultry, beef, milk; fish

Exports:
total value: $122.1 billion (f.o.b., 1997)
commodities: machinery and electrical equipment 21.7%, electronic
products 14.8%, information/communications 11.8%, textile products
11.6