At least for the past decade, a great deal of hope was placed on the continued economic growth in the Asian region despite some political disturbances while the industrialized economies have suffered from slow rates of growth.
Much has changed of late, however, as it has become obvious to all that China's economic bubbles are bursting, that India has plunged again into economic stagnation, that wage increases and active personal consumption that have served as growth engines for the member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are starting to lose steam, and that a fear of another financial crisis has begun to surface.
All these phenomena appear to indicate that Asia's economic growth is taking a pause, which, depending on circumstances, could last for at least three years.