Asia feeling inflation pinch, but outlook good

An economic slowdown in the US will have an impact on Asian profits, but despite current volatility in the market, GDP growth in the region should remain high, albeit off recent peaks. The forecast of around 7.5% GDP growth in 2008 for the Asia ex Japan region is currently five percentage points more than Japan, the UK and Europe. There are several strong props to the Asian economy. First, while Westerners are heavily indebted, national savings in the Asia Pacific region have risen fivefold in the past 20 years. At the same time, consumer debt levels have fallen dramatically. Second, co...