Many improvements have since been made. Countries have bolstered their regulatory transparency and supervisory oversight, corporate governance, risk management, and the quality of economic data. Central banks are now more independent, government debt has been reined in, and financial systems are stronger. Yet the growth-reducing effects of the crisis linger.

After seeing how the current-account deficits in trade and investment flow that they were running at the time left them vulnerable, a number of Asian countries refocused their internal investment policies on export capacity, maintaining low currency values and building current-account surpluses.

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