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36 Taiwan Development Perspectives 2009
Table 1 Taiwan’s Annual Average Economic Performance Unit: %
1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000-2007
Economic growth rate 9.17% 10.31% 8.18% 6.51% 4.07%
Unemployment rate 3.31% 1.65% 2.07% 2.04% 4.26%
Inflation rate 3.39% 9.53% 4.64% 2.88% 0.89%
Saving rate 20.18% 30.88% 33.12% 27.43% 26.79%
Investment rate 21.21% 29.37% 23.4% 23.97% 20.13%
Export growth rate 33.83 32.62 15.73% 6.70% 9.66%
Source: Directerate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C.
Suffice it to say that the slowdown in Taiwan’s
economy since 2000 is not due to its foreign investment
and trade, especially with China, but to stagnant domestic
consumption and private investment, which lowered
domestic final demand and suppressed domestic
capital stock formation, further decreasing the economic
growth momentum. Figure 2 shows that after
2001 the share of exports to GDP increased while that
of domestic consumption to GDP declined. Furthermore,
Figure 3 shows that except 2004 the growth rate
of domestic consumption and investment remained
stagnant, averaging below 2 percent, while that of exports
stayed at about 10 percent. Taiwan’s FDI in China
contributed to the growth of its exports because of the
vertical division of labor across the Strait. Taiwan has
registered a surplus in trade with China every year since
it began. The surplus topped US$18.29 billion in 2007.
Table 2 shows the contribution of various final
expenditures to economic growth. It is clear from Table
2 that the major factor contributing to economic growth
is exports. Without foreign trade, the growth rate would