Monday, January 25, 2010

BRIC Consumers to the Rescue?

From Bloomberg:

Developing countries led by China and India will supplant the American consumer as the source of “natural growth” for the global economy, according to Paul Sheard of Nomura Securities International Inc.

There will be “less exuberant and robust consumption than we had in the past few years” in the U.S. because the American household will continue to “tighten its belt,” New-York based Sheard, global chief economist at Nomura, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Hong Kong today. “There are other parts of the world, though, that can take up some of that slack,” such as China and India, he said.

This is a big change, but one that was bound to come. As other parts of the world experience economic growth, they increase their spending/purchasing power. As that happens, their overall demand for "things" increases. Overall, it's a healthy trend as the world grows less reliant on the US consumer.