The global financial crisis that initiated in Asia in mid-1997 caused world economic growth to decelerate from 4% in 1997 to 2% in 1998. The crisis interrupted a four-year period of rapid expansion of world end-use consumption of textiles. World end-use cotton consumption, which was expected to increase by 1% in 1998, instead declined by 1% as a result of the crisis. In addition, exports of cotton textile manufactures from developing countries, essentially from Asia, to industrial countries increased about 9% in 1997 and 1998, compared to an average rate of 4% during the 1990s.