Editorial

We have just passed a very difficult year of 2009 with a lot of ups and downs in terms of economic development, resulting from the global economic crisis that started in October 2008. The current global economic crisis brings back painful memories to people and governments in Asia, especially of those times when they experienced tremendous challenges to social, economic and political developments in the post-1997 Asian financial crisis. It was only in late 1997 that an economic crisis swept the region last, reversing years of economic and social development. While it is very difficult to compare the two economic crises in terms of causes, geographic spread and chronology, both events have had an adverse impact on people’s confidence in consumption. The stagnation of economic growth caused by the current economic crisis has inevitably weakened the capacity of Asian governments in driving reforms of different kinds as part of the consequences of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.