The economies of the BSEC-CA region, and especially the 11 that were republics of the former Soviet Union, have experienced rapid growth in the first years of the 21st century. This is in welcome contrast to the 1990s, when the formerly centrally planned economies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) underperformed in most regions of the world, experiencing an output collapse that far exceeded expectations. During the period 2001-06, the simple average growth rate of the 11 CIS countries was around 8 per cent per year, which compares favourably even with the high performing Asian economies. Part of this impressive performance is recovery from a deep trough, and some countries have benefited from large terms of trade gains, but it also reflects substantial improvement in macroeconomic policies.