Foreign funds continue to flee from Asia. Net outflows from Asian ex-Japan funds reached $13bn for the year to December 3, according to EFPR Global, compared with $10bn of inflows over the same period last year. Taiwan and Korea are taking the biggest hits. Foreigners have sold some net $22bn of Korean blue chips so far this year. Meanwhile, the MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index, down 54 per cent so far this year in US dollar terms, is back to levels last seen in August 2004 – a time when risk aversion was almost alien and boisterous Asian economic growth was taken as a given.

That world has long gone. Risk aversion, as measured by HSBC’s Clog index, is off its late-October peak, but only fractionally so. Recession has already claimed some economies, including Singapore, and more will follow. Foreign funds are still liquidating positions and fleeing for safe havens. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the siege of Thailand’s main airport have reminded the world that Asia is anything but a safe haven. Governments and central banks have been unable to turn the tide. At least half a dozen fiscal stimulus packages and a swathe of interest rate cuts have barely registered with investors.