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.