But to better understand what has happened in the economy over the past year or so, I will place my comments in the context of longer-term economic trends. The Adjustments of the 1990s Let me start by recalling the state of our economy as the 1990s began.
Emerging countries’ citizens have reaped the benefits of such rapid development with higher standards of living. Over the last decade, GDP per capita has risen by 30% on average, to reach over USD 9,000. The integration of emerging economies into global markets of goods and services has been similarly swift.