It makes no sense to think about whether a situation is good or bad without comparing it to other economies in a globalized world. If all economies are suffering, then the problems are bigger than a single country. But if only one economy is suffering, the problems are definitely specific to that country. So, situation might not be that bad because theres no real loss, but may be the economy is suffering from opportunity loss. So your competitors are growing at 4% and your growing at 1% which means effectively you're shrinking at ~2%.