Global Recession-Impact on Asian Economy

At the NPA conference, we were all enlightened by the presentation by the renowned economist, Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas, (the presentation is shared here)- by pointing us to a lot of data.

Amongst some of the learnings I had from the sessions were

-the stagnation/decline of the traditional engines of growth. ( US, Euro Area, Japan, UK, Canada and Australia-all hovering less than 2% GDP growth, not just in the past 3-4 yrs but likely to be continue so, in the near future. There are a handful who are expected to have negative growth!)

-the emerging engines of growth are certainly the BRICA region- BRIC nations and the ASEAN region!

- Contrary to perception, those countries with huge population -are likely to be more stable economies in future, as one can expect a much more robust domestic economy-and not be entirely dependent! ( A set of 11 emerging nations qualify here!!)

-The emergence of SMEs and micro enterprises in the role of developing economies.

-Perceived threat to nations like Japan where increased 'savings rate' -has throttled 'consumer spending' within the domestic economy. Add to it, the low population growth-and the resistance to immigrants, the nation is fast ageing!!

DrVilligas also thought aloud if the 'one child' policy adopted by China could boomerang in future. He was concerned if a child- who was brought up by 6 adults ( parents and 2 sets of grandparents)- would be motivated enough -or even develop social skills to be able to share and get along with peers- and the possible effect on 'team building' and future organisations!!

As for recruiters, he did give us a list of sunrise industries that are likely to keep us busy-not just within a country-but there seems to be a lot of scope for regional/global migration of professionals. Among them..the promising sector seemed to be the sectors focussing on the Four Fs: Food, Fashion, Furniture, Fun !!