Those books contained prophecies which were not an exact forecast of future events but had to be understood as an aid to finding measures to prevent and manage a devastating disaster. The last king of Ancient Rome, the legendary Tarquinius Superbus, was eager to acquire those nine Sibylline Books.
While China managed to grow by 1,4 per cent in that quarter, the Indian economy experienced zero growth. Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand experienced quarter-on-quarter annualised contractions in excess of 20 per cent, while contractions were also experienced in eastern and central Europe and Latin America.