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Country Risk: Taiwan

A rapidly growing, semiconductor-driven current account surplus, and the most data-limited profile in this programme due to non-World-Bank membership

Luca Bindi·22 July 2026·6 min read

Taiwan's current account surplus has grown sharply -- 14.07% of GDP (2024) to 17.45% (2025, confirmed actual) to an IMF in-year estimate of 18.12% (2026) -- directly reflecting its dominant position in global semiconductor exports. Inflation has been low throughout, peaking at just 2.71% in 2022 and easing to 1.30% by 2025. Government debt (29.0% of GDP, 2023) is among the lowest in this programme, though the figure is now stale. This profile is structurally more limited than every other country in this programme: Taiwan is not a World Bank member, so GDP per capita, population, unemployment, and governance indicators are all genuinely unavailable on this platform -- stated plainly rather than worked around.

Key Takeaways

Taiwan's current account surplus grew from 14.07% of GDP (2024) to 17.45% (2025, confirmed actual) to an IMF estimate of 18.12% (2026, not yet a confirmed actual) -- among the largest in this programme.
Inflation peaked at just 2.71% in 2022 (muted relative to most economies during the same global shock) and eased to 1.30% by 2025.
Government debt (29.0% of GDP) is among the lowest in this programme, though the figure is from 2023 and is stated as stale.
Taiwan's non-membership in the World Bank means GDP per capita, population, unemployment, and governance indicators are all genuinely unavailable on this platform -- a structural limitation unique to this profile among the programme's countries so far.
2026 current-account and inflation figures are IMF in-year estimates, not confirmed actuals -- labeled explicitly throughout rather than presented as settled.

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Sources

IMF, Bank for International Settlements, via lucabindi.com canonical data (FRED) — IMF / BIS

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