This set of circumstances, in turn, forces further liquidation and price declines. A widespread use of rating triggers can accelerate this downward slide, with further losses in asset values triggering additional downgrades and requirements to post collateral and liquidate positions. Recent events have demonstrated this potentially destabilizing dynamic at work.
Indeed, countries in this region have exhibited impressive resilience in restoring their economic vitality. When the world economy slowed in the wake of the bursting of the IT bubble in 2002-03, Asia's solid growth helped avert the global recession. China's economic expansion is particularly remarkable as it has sustained an average growth of 8-9 percent per annum for the past decade.