ABSTRACT
For more than three decades Taiwan's economy has experienced rapid growth, especially in its foreign trade sector. During the years 1952-1988, real gross national product (GNP) grew at an average annual rate of 8.82 percent. Meanwhile, the expansion of foreign trade was even more impressive, with exports and imports increasing at annual rates of 21.81 percent and 19.25 percent, respectively. Taiwan experienced a trade surplus for most of the 1970s and 1980s and accumulated the third largest amount of foreign exchange reserves in the world—US$73.4 billion by the end of August 1989. 1 Not surprisingly, Taiwan's currency was forced to appreciate a dramatic 53.86 percent from 1985 to June 1989. 2 Per capita GNP jumped from US$3,297 in 1985 to US$6,333 in 1988.
