1991年，在发展中国家增长恶化的国际情形下，七个主要工业国的国内生产总值经历了一个急剧的下滑，从1990年的2.8%下降到1991年的1.9%，像加拿大、美国、英国陷入了萧条，欧洲大陆和日本增长率减缓。这个减速与发生在20世纪70年代和80年代的不同。并不是反通货膨胀政策的结果，需求的疲软大多与发展势头的丧失紧密相关，这个势头开始于1983年，在长期扩充中已经形成。此外，在许多工业国减速的一个普遍的根本因素是投资开支的周期性。
2.Although the weakness in demand in the United States led to a sharp decline in short-term dollar interest rates—a positive development for many developing countries—it also contributed to a drop of over 6 percent in nominal commodity prices and to a slackening， to 3 percent， in the growth of world trade. These trends were compounded by worsening economic conditions in the soviet Union and its successor states， where a growing shortage of foreign exchange led to a compression of import from Eastern Europe and an acceleration of certain commodity exports to earn hard currencies.
尽管美国疲软的需求导致了短期美元利率急剧地下跌，但对于发展中国家的发展是积极的，它也导致了名义产品价格约6％的下跌，世界贸易增长下跌了3％。苏联和它的后继国经济情形的恶化加剧了这一趋势，外汇短缺的增长导致了从东欧进口的压缩，加速了某些产品的出口，获得了硬通货。
3.Financial stress brought on by excessive debt in the household and corporate sectors was an example of another kind of structural problem， in particular for the economies of Japan and the United States. Financial institutions in these two countries adopted more conservative lending policies， curtailing financing of higher-risk projects such as commercial construction and highly leveraged corporate transaction. A number of weaker institutions were also consolicated through bankruptcy， merger and reorganization.
过多债务的财政压力招致了家族和公司部门是另外一种结构问题的例子，尤其是日本和美国的经济。这两个国家在财政制度上采取了比较保守的借贷政策，削减了对商业建筑这类高风险的财政项目和对公司依靠大量借贷进行交易的融资。大多数疲软的机构也通过破产，合并和重组来联合。
4.The major risk facing this highly trade-oriented region is the potential for sluggishness or disruption in world-trade flows. Economic weakness in some of the region‘s traditional export markets has underlined the importance of market diversification， including a further strengthening of ties within the region. Increasingly buoyant intraregional trade in East Asia may be viewed as evidence of an ongoing process of “market-oriented” regional integration， a development that could partially offset lackluster progress in the area of multilateral trade agreements.
这个高度以贸易为导向的地区面对的风险主要是潜在的世界贸易流中的萧条或混乱。一些地区传统出口市场的经济萎靡已强调了市场多样化的重要性。包括进一步加强地区内的联系。
日益活跃的东亚内贸易可被视为一个“市场导向”地区一体化的见证，这一点可弥补多边贸易协定领域毫无生气的进展局面。