Headlines: US subprime woes a blessing in disguise for Asia?

What can Asian countries learn from US subprime problems and the uncertainties they generate for the global economy?

Build a more robust domestic economy that is less reliant on feeding US demand? Perhaps we all should go Islamic and collateralises every single debt with something tangible?

Teng Chee Wai from HwangDBS Investment Management Berhad, believes that the US subprime woes could be a blessing in disguise for us. He said Malaysia should be able to withstand external shocks, including a possible US recession.

The following is from Bloomberg...

"INVESTORS should be prepared for unforeseen shocks that could substantially threaten the robustness of the global economy in 2008". Teng said the recent financial crisis has the potential to be a blessing in disguise for Asia and may present an opportunity for the region to showcase its resilience. A dampened US economic outlook should increase the urgency within Asia to step up efforts to shift its growth dependency away from external demand, and to steer fiscal/monetary policies towards boosting demand.

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