Taiwan's per capita GDP surpassed South Korea's by over US$6,000 in 2003 based on purchasing power parity (PPP) adjustments, the nation's top economic planner said yesterday.
Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正) said Taiwan's PPP-adjusted per capita GDP for 2003 was US$24,558, surpassing South Korea's US$17,900, indicating that Taiwanese people enjoyed a higher living standard than South Koreans.
Noting that major international economic institutions use PPP to measure a country's per capita GDP, Hu said the measure, which excludes inflation and currency fluctuation rates, more accurately gauges a country's per capita national income and general living standards.
Quoting statistics compiled by the Swiss International Institute of Management and Development, Hu said that Taiwan's PPP-adjusted per capita GDP reached US$24,676 in 2004, in comparison with South Korea's US$18,686.
Due to the "time lag" in compiling PPP-adjusted measures, no data was available to make a comparison for last year, he said.
Hu said South Korea was a respectable competitor judging from its robust economic development and brilliant trade performance. However, he said he disagreed with academics who complain that Taiwan has lagged behind South Korea in economic growth recently.
Chu Yun-peng (朱雲鵬), head of the National Central University's Taiwan Economic Development Research Center, said recently that "South Korea has emerged as the second largest source of Taiwan's trade deficit after Japan. I'm not surprised by its overtaking Taiwan in terms of per capita GDP in 2005. With South Korea's towering ambition, I think that country is likely to surpass Taiwan even in terms of PPP-adjusted per capita GDP in the near future."
Chu said the government should avoid complacency and should plan a forward-looking economic development policy to speed growth.
RSS