Country Report:
Taiwan
By Cynthia Huang
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Economic Growth
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/gdp-growth
Economic Growth
Evaluation
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Prediction
2002: Taiwan joined WTO, world trade

organization, which boosted its economy,
since it made trade easier and more
uniform.
2003: big decrease due to SARS. Also year
that president Chen Shui-Bian really started
pushing for Taiwan and China to remain as
separate as possible. China did not view this
happily, and so business might not have
boomed as much.
2008: major decrease due to global
financial crisis since Taiwan is mainly an
export-oriented economy. If other countries
can’t buy, then Taiwan suffers.
2010: major growth because year that ECFA
signed pact that will bring Taiwan and
China closer together. Made it easier to
trade between the two countries.
-following the trend, in
2013, the first two quarters
will be a decrease in
economic growth
followed by a reasonable
increase for the following
2 quarters. Since president
Ma Ying-Jeou, who is proChina and wants to unite
with them, has been
elected again, we can
expect to see more
communication with
China and perhaps an
overall increase in
business relationships.
Unemployment
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/unemployment-rate
Unemployment
Evaluation
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Rather low rates since there
are many labor-intensive
companies that can
continue to employ many
Taiwanese. Also, exports
from Taiwan have been
strong. As an exportoriented country,
companies can continue
to run.
high unemployment in 2009
due to global recession.
In 2010, government
worked hard to decrease
unemployment rates, and
their successful results can
be seen in the graph.
Prediction

Unemployment will continue to
decrease. However, it is also
possible that with closer
relationships to China, more
and more companies will
begin to start-up in China,
taking away jobs and
opportunities for many
Taiwanese, which will lead to
an increase in unemployment.
However, this most likely will not
happen next year. More time is
needed for something like this
to happen.
Inflation
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/inflation-cpi
Inflation
Evaluation
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Prediction
rather equal, since Taiwan  -based on
focuses heavily on
current trends,
maintaining “high
inflation will stay
economic growth and
price stability” [Economic
really low.
Development R.O.C.
Although, oil
(Taiwan)].
prices have
2000-2006: low inflation
since the IT bubble burst,
been increasing,
and so prices of goods
the government
subsequently dropped.
2007-2009: high inflation
concentrates
due to global financial
heavily on
crisis and high crude oil
and raw material prices
maintaining a set
2012: government’s goal is
inflation rate.
to keep inflation at about
2%, according to Focus
Taiwan News Travel.
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oHpUfAt4/s1600/economic_growth_2
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Balance of Trade
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/balance-of-trade
www.cepd.gov.tw/dn.aspx?uid=9433
Balance of Trade
Evaluation
 Positive,
since
Taiwan exports
more than it
imports.
Prediction

Will continue to
increase. Taiwan
imports the most
from Japan. This will
probably change
because of the big
earthquake, making
goods from Japan
scarce, and so
Taiwan might have
to look at other
sources or just do
without them for
now.
http://www.border7.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/import-export-300x300.jpg
Equality of Income
www.cepd.gov.tw/dn.aspx?uid=9433
http://www.smartcitymemphis.com/wp-content/uploads/income-inequality21.jpg
Equality of Income
Evaluation
• Rather equal. Ranked at 105 in world by CIA World
Factbook. Even when the rich began to earn a lot
more, the government stepped in and brought
about many social welfare measures to make
incomes more equal.
Government Debt
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/government-debt-to-gdp
Government Debt
Evaluation
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The root cause,
according to the Taipei
Times, is that Taiwan
spends a lot but
continues to cut taxes.
Where is the revenue
coming from?
Following this, according
to alibaba.com, Taiwan
had big debt in 2009,
carrying over to 2010
because it had lowered
income tax.
Prediction
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Unless the government
is prepared to begin
increasing taxes or
decreasing the costs of
running many public
facilities or social
benefits, the
government debt does
not look like it will be
decreasing anytime
soon.
Annual government budgets
(spending and taxes)
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/government-budget
Annual government budgets
Evaluation
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The budget is tied to its
debt. Taiwan’s debt is
caused by overspending and
continuous cutting of
taxes. Much of the
budget is spent on
social welfare, such as
pensions for teachers,
public servants, and war
veterans, according to
the Taipei Times. More
than NT $200 billion is
spent annually just on
that.
Prediction

Elections have just been
held and President Ma has
promised many things, but
none that will help increase
the government budget.
Unless the government
begins to carefully
manage their budget, we
should not expect to see a
big change in the budget
amount.
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hnstonpursel.jpg
謝謝！
臺
灣
http://www.winkreative.com/portfolio/branding/taiwan_tourism_board.aspx
Sources
United States. CIA. CIA – The World Factbook. CIA. Web. 21 Mar.
2012. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/tw.html>.
 Zhong-Xian Yu. "The Fruits of Economic Development." The Story of
Taiwan. Government Information Office, Republic of China
(Taiwan). Web. 5 Apr. 2012. <http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/
taiwan-story/economy/edown/3-5.htm>.
 Taiwan's Economic Development Foundation. Rep. Bureau of
Foreign Trade. Web. 5 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.brandingtaiwan.org/
Content/FrontEnd/TaiwanDownload/TRPMI.pdf>.
 "Taiwan's Economy." AsianInfo.org. K. Lee. Web. 5 Apr. 2012.
<http://
www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/taiwan/proeconomy.htm>.
 Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics,
Executive Yuan. Economic Development, R.O.C. (Taiwan).
Taipei City: Council for
Economic Planning and
Development, Taipei, R.O.C. (Taiwan), 2010. Web. 2
Apr. 2012. <www.cepd.gov.tw/dn.aspx?uid=9433>.
 Huang Juei-min. "Taiwan's Debt Deserves Attention." Taipei Times. 29
Jan. 2010. Web. 5 Apr. 2012. <http://www.taipeitimes.com/
News/editorials/archives/2010/01/29/2003464653/1>.
 Tang, Hsiao-Tien, and C.J. Lin. "Government Seeks to Keep 2012
Inflation Rate
within 2%." FOCUS TAIWAN. 03 Apr. 2012.
Web. 5 Apr. 2012. <http://
focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/
WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aALL>.
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