1.   The country was hit by rising inflation.

2.   The country was hit by a plague of natural disasters that year.

3.   As prices tumble, the country will be hit hard.

4.   But when conditions turn bad, the country is hit by a double punch of added social costs and shrinking capital investment.

5.   Decertified countries are often hit with economic penalties such as loss of U.S. aid.

6.   Few countries have been hit harder by AIDS, and anything that might worsen the crisis is met with scrutiny.

7.   Large parts of the economy virtually shut down, the way they might if a hurricane or a severe snowstorm hit the whole country at the same time.

8.   Manufacturing is usually the most volatile sector in a downturn, and those countries have been hit especially hard by the collapse of technology investment this year.

9.   Neighboring countries have been hit hard, too, with foreign investors and tourists avoiding the region.

10.   The country has been hit especially hard by slumping growth around the world because it depends so heavily on exports of automobiles and industrial machinery.