Economically speaking, 2001 was Taiwan's worst year in half a century. Gross domestic product actually shrank by 1.9 %; the unemployment rate rose to over 5 %; and in the fourth quarter, the banking industry's non-performing loans reached a high of more than 8 % of all loans.
二○○一年，是台灣近半世紀來經濟上最愁雲慘霧的一年：經濟成長率破天荒出現百分之一・九的負成長、失業率衝破百分之五大關、第四季金融業總體逾放比則超過百分之八。