Indian PM: Asian Stimulus Can Cure Tech Slowdown
Sunday March 11 9:42 AM ET
BANGALORE, India (Reuters) - Asia with its vast population could come to the rescue of rich nations hit by a technology sector slowdown, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Sunday.
Asia had outgrown being an aid-dependent region and could provide the stimulus for countries hit by recessions, layoffs and unemployment, he said.
``The fast-growing economies of Asia are today the largest consumers of a wide range of new technology products such as cellphones, computers and other Internet devices,'' he told an Asian technology conference in the southern city of Bangalore.
``This shows that Asia, which is home to more than half the world's population, can become the most reliable propeller of technology creation as well as technology consumption in the new century,'' he said.
Vajpayee said the two-billion-strong younger Asian generation could provide an army of skilled workers to help economies which are ``growing too slowly to absorb the new additions in technology-driven productivity.''
After a decade of fast growth driven by high-technology industries like telecommunications, software and Internet, the United States is experiencing a sectoral slowdown which is rubbing off on other parts of the world.
Global technology giants like Microsoft, Intel and Cisco have warned of slower earnings growth during 2001.
Top Asian economies such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia are big spenders on high-tech products such as mobile phones, computers and are seen as key consumers of emerging Internet devices.
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