Taiwan’s per-capita income is expected to rise to US$29,000 by 2020 and its economy is likely to become the fifth-largest in Asia by then, according to a report issued by DBS Group Research last month.
Among the top 10 economies in Asia, Taiwan’s per-capita income level will make it the fourth-highest by 2020, the report said.
In terms of per capita income, Singapore will be at the top with US$71,000, followed by Hong Kong (US$47,000) and South Korea (US$30,000), according to the report titled Asia 2020.
However, the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 2008 campaign pledge to achieve per capita income of US$30,000 will be realized by 2016.
The council had forecast that the per capita income this year would break through the US$20,000 mark and rise to US$21,200. At present, the figure is US$19,155.
The DBS report also projected that the Taiwanese economy will grow to the fifth-largest in Asia by the start of the next decade based on the assumption of an annual economic growth rate of 3.8 percent.
Aging population and declining savings will pose the main challenges to the nation’s economy over the next decade, the report said.
Taiwan currently has the seventh-largest economy in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington-based think tank Heritage Foundation.
The top four Asian economies in 2020 will be China, India, South Korea, and Indonesia, in that order, the DBS report said.
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