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.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique