Asian economies may chart global recovery path

Thanks to a robust second quarter growth of the Chinese economy, the hopes of a global recovery led by Asia seems to be gaining momentum.

The optimism is further strengthened by better reading of economic progress in export-oriented economies of Japan and Singapore.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech said the government would look to bring back the economy to a high growth rate of 9 per cent.

Interestingly, most of the developed nations are witnessing economic contraction.

Stimulus packages might be yet to revive the American economy but has slowly helped the emerging Asian nations to chart a recovery path.

The Chinese GDP expanded at a pace of 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2009, much more than expected, boosted by massive stimulus plan worth about $600 billion.

"In the first half of this year, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 13,986.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.1 per cent, which was one percentage point faster than that in the first quarter," National Bureau of Statistics of China said.

"In terms of growth by quarters, it was up 6.1 per cent for the first quarter, and 7.9 per cent for the second," it added.