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Asia-Pacific consumers most optimistic: survey

Asia-Pacific consumers are easily the most confident about the economic outlook for the next 12 months, according to a global survey of consumer confidence released yesterday, while Americans and Europeans are much more likely to be pessimistic.

The AC Nielsen report credited the emerging powerhouses of China and India, two of the world's fastest-growing consumer markets, with driving Asia's buoyant outlook. Conversely, some of Europe's largest economies such as France, Germany and Italy are struggling with flat or negative growth and increasing unemployment.

Forty-one percent of consumers in the Asia-Pacific region think their country's economy improved over the past six months and 48 percent expect it to do so again over the coming 12 months. In contrast, 40 percent of Europeans and 42 percent of Americans think their economies had deteriorated over the past six months. Just 29 percent of Europeans and 35 percent of Americans expected conditions to improve over the next 12 months.

Frank Martell, president of AC Nielsen Europe, said that socially and economically, China and India are developing at a galloping rate compared to the rest of the world.

"With economic growth rates of over 8 percent per annum, Chinese and Indian consumers have greater spending power today than they have had at any time in recent history," said Martell. "Both countries are booming, with employment opportunities, growing infrastructure investment and stable currencies."

In Europe, only consumers in Norway, Denmark and Poland claimed to have seen a significant improvement in their economies in the past six months. Looking ahead, Ireland, Russia and Norway were the most optimistic.

"With the exception of Ireland, Russia and Norway, it is clear that Europe remains in the doldrums and most consumers simply do not see a light at the end of the tunnel," Martell said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who takes the EU presidency on July 1, has long argued that the bloc must reform its economy. He believes that French-style social and worker protections have hampered the EU's economic prospects and says flexibility and deregulation are crucial in the face of intense competition from America and the rising economic powers of China and India.

The biannual survey was the result of a random online poll of people in 38 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the US.
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