Asia's economies will improve, a poll says

Asia's economies will improve, a poll says

Associated Press, Singapore

Most regional economists and officials expressed optimism that Asian economies would improve over the next six months, a poll by The Straits Times newspaper showed on Monday.

The newspaper polled 204 politicians, academics, businessmen and officials from 11 Asian cities, and 53 percent said they believed that the growth prospects in their countries would improve in the next six months.

The respondents pinned their optimism on growth in emerging Asian economic power China and the United States - the largest trading partner for most Asian countries.

Thirty-two percent said they didn't believe their economies would do better during that period.

The respondents were more cautious about the long term. Of those polled, only 42 percent said that performance throughout all of 2004 would be significantly better when compared to this year. Forty percent said they did not believe economic growth would be higher.

Asian economies this year were hit by a global travel slump, the war in Iraq and the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak that killed over 900 people - mostly in Asia.

People polled named corruption as the leading factor that could hold back Asian growth in 2004 at 15 percent while bureaucracy was at 13 percent. Nine percent were also concerned that terrorist attacks could hold back growth.

The paper said those polled in Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia "worry that governments are opting for soft reforms or letting them take a back seat as they keep an eye on voters" with elections in those countries next year.

Some of those polled, however, said government reforms had little impact on economic growth.

A huge majority of Chinese respondents - 80 percent - said reforms would not contribute to GDP growth. In South Korea and Japan, only 10 percent and 15 percent respectively felt that government reforms could help their once-booming economies improve.