SOUTH ASIA AND GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS: Issues and Challenges

Global financial crisis, the consequence of an unsustainable growth pattern that has been emerging since a decade, impacts the economies in all the regions, irrespective of their degree of globalization and deft economic management. Both developed and developing countries have different threats from the crisis, and devised appropriate measures to contain it.

South Asia weathered the crisis much better than most of the regions in the world. The region is leastaffected by the global meltdown, due partly to the relatively closed nature of some of its members in respect of trade and capital flows; and partly to the strong fundamentals and prudent policies of the rest. Resilience is mostly seen in South Asia not only in knowledgeintensive services and exports of garments and textiles, but also in workers’ remittances and foreign direct investment. India, being driven by internal demand; sound domestic policies; and wellregulated banking system, has escaped the worst effects of the crisis to show assured signs of strong recovery.