Year-end Economic review 2008

Oil prices went through the roof. People all over the planet panicked and rushed to board the alternative-fuel bandwagon. That sent crop prices soaring, accompanied by dire forecasts of a global food shortage. The crop bubble burst as well after oil prices came crashing back to the floor.

Meanwhile, in New Mexico, a labourer earning $12,000 a year received a 100% mortgage for a $720,000 house. That tells you everything you need to know about why the casino known as the US financial market went bust.

While the world headed into a recession, Thailand was almost too busy to notice, fixated on the hit soap opera Yellow vs Red. We had one prime minister, followed by another, and another, and another. No one knows how long the latest one will last.

For anyone running a business, these have been testing times indeed. For the Year-end Economic Review, we posed some basic questions to leaders in a range of sectors about how they were coping with present turmoil and planning for future challenges. The answers are illuminating and, in many respects, encouraging. Burned once in 1997, they are determined not to see history repeat itself.