Asian economies have also been severely affected – for example, China, Hong Kong (China) and Sin-gapore. announcements must be treated with caution, as they do not take into account new and continuing recruitment by fi rms. Asian ICT trade has been down by 25-40% year-on-year, as the crisis took its toll on integrated Asian production and trade networks. The Americas, Europe and Asia have all been negatively affected by the current crisis. Asia’s performance was worse than was expected at the outset of the global recession due to currency fl uctuations and plunging exports and slowing domestic demand for Chinese produc-ers R&D is declining, but it is performing somewhat better than employment and certainly better than production and, where it is declining, it is with a lag compared with turnover and employment. Invest-ments in R&D and innovation are clearly seen as ways to increase future competitiveness and develop new growth areas. On the small new fi rm side, venture capital has slowed very markedly from mid- 2008, but around one-half continues to fl ow into the sector and into ICT-intensive clean technologies. and their suppliers. However, the recent month-on- month upturn has been very rapid, particularly in Japan and the Republic of Korea, and China has returned to positive growth after slipping below zero year-on-year growth at the start of 2009. There are also clear regional differences in the impact of the crisis. Asian OECD countries were especially hard-hit by the downturn, with slumping production and soaring inventories, particularly in Japan. Other Source: OECD (2009), “The Impact of the Crisis on ICTs and their Role in the Recovery”, available from http://www.oecd.org. Confronting the Crisis: ICT Stimulus Plans for Economic Growth 61