Reuter’s issued results from a quarterly survey which shows that financial and business decision makers in 13 Asian countries expect growth to continue but at a more moderate pace. The highlights for investors interested in Ukraine’s agri-businesses is that all polled expect that food prices in the region will continue rising. The survey participants felt that Asian governments and central banks will need to tighten monetary policy to prevent inflation from moving out of control. However this bodes well for continued support for growth of the local agricultural sector as the Asian economies will continue to support strong demand for food imports from regions such as Ukraine.

A quick snapshot of other poll results.

China's economy is expected to expand by 9.3 percent this year, and inflation will grow to 4.3 percent. India is expected to grow at 8.7 percent and inflation is expected at 8.8 percent. Australia, which has had two decades of economic growth, will see a slowdown as result of adjusting to losses inflicted by major floods, but once reconstruction starts, should see a pick up in the second half of the year. South Korea is expected to grow by 4.3 percent as are the economies of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The negative aspect of the survey for Ukraine and the global economy is the concern that inflation is rising and there is a building asset bubble. If either of these two trends move out of control then the resulting plunge would knock on to the rest of the global economy bringing on recession.

UkrAgroConsult