Global repercussions as the US slowdown affects Asia.

Fears that Asia’s ability to circumvent the US slump has fuelled the pessimism surrounding the global economy.

A survey conducted by Bloomberg known as the ‘Bloomberg Professional Global Confidence Index’ that incorporated the views of 5,430 Bloomberg users across the world. The opinions of investors, traders and analysis showed that the index had fallen to 13.1 from 14.3 in February that conforms to the fears and expectations of the current economic climate.

This increasing pessimism is driving the decline in the global economy in a period in which major financial institutions have written down bad debts of around $188 billion caused by the mortgage crisis and poor credit provisions.

A participant in the survey, Luis Beneguerl who is head of equities at Interbrokers said that “the problems that started in the U.S. are now affecting all regions and fear is putting economies on hold.”

The respondents from Asia showed the lowest confidence in their own economy with a swing of -8, which could be explained by the fact that Asia is twice as dependent on exports. China, Singapore, Hong Kong and India are all experiencing a reduction in manufacturing growth.

The break down of North American users showed that they were more optimistic about the global economy, with their index increasing by 2 points, whilst in Europe, the index rose from 13.8 from 12.9 which indicates an air of optimism.

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