Asia’s continued post-crisis success is far from automatic. The external environment is likely to be less benign because to a large extent, the weakness of the advanced economies reflects structural problems – failures in the US housing and financial markets and fiscal concerns in some EU countries – that will take time to sort out. The medium-term weakening of the advanced economies has negative repercussions for Asia’s medium-term growth since those economies have traditionally been and remain key markets for its exports.