Asia will benefit from West's spiralling debts

ON ASIA

ANDREW GILLAN, manager of Edinburgh Dragon Trust on Asia

As the West faces the next and possibly less tractable part of its financial crisis, namely how to pay for its ballooning public debt, Asia looks well positioned. The region largely escaped the crisis. Its financial systems are sound, balance sheets are strong, whether at government, corporate or the household level, and its economies are growing strongly once again. However, despite rising domestic consumption and greater intra-regional trade, the region, to varying degrees, remains reliant on export markets in the developed world. Should there be a more pronounced relapse in global ...