News
 

Taiwan's gross national income tops South Korea 1st time since 2002
 

03/08/2023 10:14 PMListen

Taipei, March 8 (CNA) Taiwan's gross national income (GNI) in 2022 surpassed that of South Korea for the first time since 2002, recently published official statistics from both countries indicate.

According to tallies from the Bank of Korea made public on Tuesday, South Korea's GNI stood at US$32,661 per capita last year -- down by 7.7 percent from 2021 and US$904 lower than the 2022 figure for Taiwan published by its Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

The reversal can be attributed mainly to the two countries' differing currency exchange rates and export performance, analysts said.

As a major hi-tech chip producer, Taiwan's key electronic component exports have underpinned its strong economy over the past three years in the wake of greater digitization after COVID-19 broke out in early 2020, said Darson Chiu (邱達生), a research fellow in the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research's international affairs department.

Taiwan was one of only a handful of countries that posted positive economic growth rates over the past three years, Chiu noted, adding that in contrast South Korea recorded deficits in outbound shipments, dragging down its economic performance over the same period.

Another major factor was the weakness of the South Korean won against the U.S. dollar, he explained.

Last year, the Taiwan dollar lost 6.8 percent in value against the greenback, while the Korean currency depreciated 12.9 percent.

Wang Jiann-chyuan (王健全), vice president of Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said Taiwan outperformed South Korea because of its niche focus amid the ongoing trade war between the United States and China.

The U.S.-China trade war has also pushed up demand for a wide range of hi-tech devices which bolstered Taiwan's manufacturing of hi-tech products, Wang noted.

Compared with South Korea, which produces consumer electronics that face fierce competition from China, Taiwan has a dominant position in the manufacture of advanced chips in the global market.

(By Flor Wang and Su Ssu-yun)

 

Source, https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202303080023

 

Ufficio di Rappresentanza di Taipei - Viale Liegi n.17, 00198 Roma | Tel. 06-98262800 - P. Iva 97076980586