Introduction

Abstract

The economies of the Asian sphere have been growing in depth and breadth for the better part of two decades and are now among the most dynamic in the world. Even as established world economies have slowed, the Asian countries have continued to expand their economic output at astonishing speed. Nations such as China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand have posted tremendous records of both growth and advancement. The 1992 and 1993 average gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates for these nations were 6.23 per cent and 6.6 per cent, more than three times the average of the major Western economies. Table 1.1 illustrates the growth trends in each of the ten countries over the past four years.