'Emerging markets will suffer less'

Emerging markets will be affected less severely by the global economic crisis than developed countries, a conference was told yesterday.

"Anyone hoping for a period of calm after the turbulence of the past year will be disappointed," said Daniel Franklin, Executive Editor of the Economist magazine.

"For the economy and for business, as well as for politics, 2009 promises to be a year of bracing adjustment to a changed world. The rich economies will face recession with all that comes with it – bankruptcies, belt-tightening and rising unemployment. In the emerging world growth will be less spectacular than before, but in many countries – with luck – it will remain relatively robust."

The financial crisis dominated discussions at the one-day World in 2009 Executive Forum in Dubai. The event attracted more than 150 senior decision-makers from the oil and gas, banking and finance, manufacturing, travel and tourism, real estate, telecoms and energy sectors.

The conference was chair-ed by Franklin and Robin Bew, Editorial Director and Chief Economist of the Economist Intelligence Unit, and focused on identifying trends that would affect business strategies in 2009.

Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics and International Business at the New York University's Stern School of Business, gave a keynote presentation.

Roubini said even emerging market economies would experience a sharp slowdown in growth that would be the equivalent of a hard landing. "Amidst the recession oil, energy and commodity prices will fall further, spelling much difficulty for oil exporting countries."

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