Heavily reliant on their manufacturing and exporting industries, Asian economies are seeing sizable, even historic, contraction, as global demand for goods produced in the region has plummeted. Several countries, including Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, reported negative GDP growth in Q4 2008. The blockbuster economies of China and India still expect positive GDP growth this year, however the rate of growth will be significantly slower, falling to rates not seen since earlier in the decade. LE expects the macroeconomic indicators to continue trending downward into 2010.