ROC Taiwan 2002

ROC Yearbook 2002

The Economy
The 15-story Core Pacific City, currently Taiwan's largest shopping mall, sports a fancy, modern look and can accommodate nearly 1,000 retail outlets.
  1. Macroeconomic Indicators
  2. Trade
    1. Exports
    2. Imports
  3. Investment
    1. Inward Investment
    2. Outward Investment
  4. Economic Ties with the Chinese Mainland
    1. Cross-Strait Trade
    2. Investment on the Chinese Mainland
    3. Active Opening, Effective Management
  5. Economic Development Advisory Conference
  6. Services
  7. Industrial Production
    1. Information Technology Industry
    2. Automobile Industry
    3. Textiles
    4. Petrochemicals
    5. WTO Accession and Impact
  8. Energy
    1. Supply
    2. Consumption
    3. Oil and Natural Gas
    4. Coal
    5. Electricity
    6. Nuclear Power
    7. Renewable Energy Sources
    8. Energy Prices
Charts, tables, and boxes:

In 2000, the ROC economy grew by 5.86 percent, while consumer prices rose by only 1.26 percent, outperforming many other economies of Asia. This was due to the strong growth of world economy and world trade in the first three quarters. The ROC's gross national product (GNP) in 2000 was US$313.9 billion, and per capita GNP increased to US$14,188.

However, since the fourth quarter of 2000, Taiwan's economic growth has slowed sharply. Influenced by the world economic downturn and sluggish domestic demand, the economic growth rate in the first two quarters of 2001 dropped to 0.91 percent and -2.35 percent, respectively. For the January-July period of 2001, export orders were down 8.62 percent from a year earlier, and the unemployment rate climbed to 4.92 percent by the end of July.

To revive the economy, the ROC government launched the "8100 Taiwan Starts Moving" infrastructure project in March 2001 to increase domestic demand and create jobs. Furthermore, the Economic Development Advisory Conference (EDAC) convened by President Chen Shui-bian in August 2001 made 322 recommendations pertaining to finance, industry, investment, employment, and cross-strait relations. Financial reforms, deregulation of investments, relaxation of the "patience over haste" cross-strait policy, and other policy changes were proposed and are being implemented.

This chapter profiles the ROC's economy in the following sections: macroeconomic indicators, trade, investment, economic ties with the Chinese mainland, the Economic Development Advisory Conference, services, industry, and energy.


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