Today, signs of economic recovery are brightening the regional scene. Growth has gone positive. Exports are rising. Inflation is under control. Interest rates are down.
Stocks are up.
Currencies seem to have stabilized. At the same time, an understandable caution has crept into economic projections and into investment and lending decisions. There seems to be a feeling that economic growth may be slower this time, at least at first. The old self-assurance arising from easy money and the efficacy of short cuts seems to have gone. But there is also a feeling that growth this time may be based on sounder foundations and may thus be of a more enduring quality.