Great Recession in Asia

While beginning in the United States, the Great Recession (late 2000s and early 2010s) spread to Asia rapidly and has affected much of the region.

Four trillion yuan ($586 billion) will be spent on upgrading infrastructure, particularly roads, railways, airports and the power grid; on raising rural incomes via land reform; and on social welfare projects such as affordable housing and environmental protection.

Hong Kong is an advanced tertiary economy built on services, retail, tourism, transport and financial industries.

[7] Taiwan announced billions of dollars in spending and tax cuts due to declining growth and a 26 percent slump in the stock market in 2008.

Taiwan, despite reporting few losses from the subprime mortgage crisis, was said to have Lehman-related exposure for its companies and retail investors totaling $2.5 billion.

[15] By September 2008, the crisis threatening the GSEs (US mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) began to have consequences in Asia.

[17] In January 2009, Malaysia has banned the hiring of foreign workers in factories, stores and restaurants to protect its citizens from mass unemployment amid the global economic crisis.

The economy was based on the remittances of the Overseas Filipino Workers, most of them working in affected countries like the United States.

[30] However, unlike other major Asian economies, India's government finances were in poor shape and as a consequence, it was not able to enact large-scale economic stimulus packages.

[33] India's then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the government will take measures to ensure that the economic growth bounces back to 9%.

[38] Some analysts pointed that India's growing trade with other Asian countries, especially China, will help reduce the negative impact of the crisis.

[39] Analysts also said that India's high domestic demand and large infrastructure projects will act as a buffer reducing the impact of the global downturn on its economy.

In Pakistan the central bank's foreign currency reserves, when counting forward liabilities is said to only amount to as little as $3 billion, sufficient for a single month of imports.

President Asif Ali Zardari claimed Pakistan needed a bailout worth $100 billion which he was expected to ask for at a meeting in Abu Dhabi in November.

[44] This led a change in economic managers, and politically elected finance minister Naveed Qamar was replaced by a financial advisor, Shaukat Tareen, a former banker belonging to Citigroup on October 8, 2008.