The investment bank Lehman Brothers had filed for bankruptcy the day before, and the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, after suffering losses that threatened their solvency, had effectively been taken over by the government just two weeks earlier.
It was also a trigger for setting off an aspiration for double digit growth. 9. Today, there is a sharp reversal. Growth has decelerated, inflation is still high and stubborn, the investment rate has declined sharply and the external sector is beset with a  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  record high current account deficit.