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By Andrew Walker Economics correspondent, BBC World Service
A BBC World Service survey in 25 countries has found strikingly different
attitudes to the economic outlook between rich and developing countries.
In the rich world, consumers were pessimistic, while in emerging economies
people were more upbeat.
It is a pattern that reflects the very uneven recovery from the recent global
recession.
More than 25,000 people were surveyed by the polling firm Globescan.
Japan, France and Britain emerged as particularly gloomy. The percentage
expecting good times in all three countries was in single figures. More than
half expected bad times.
Recession danger
The picture across the rich world was one of pessimists outnumbering the
optimists, though by smaller margins.
The one exception to this pattern was Germany, where 36% expected good or
mostly good times, well ahead of those who were downbeat. Even there, the
optimists were outnumbered by those expecting a mix of good and bad times
ahead.
In the developing world, optimists outnumbered pessimists in nearly every
country surveyed. In Nigeria more than seventy per cent expected good times.
The results were strongly upbeat in Kenya and Egypt as well.
There was one exception, Pakistan, where pessimists were slightly more
numerous. In Russia, Chile and Ecuador, the optimists were only just ahead.
The difference in attitudes does broadly reflect recent economic performance:
strong growth in many emerging economies, sluggishness in the rich world.
It is also consistent with most forecasts, which suggest an increasing danger
of at least some developed economies sliding back into recession.
The research was done between July and September this year.
Since then the situation in the world's biggest economic trouble spot - the
eurozone - has moved on and in some respects the uncertainty there has
deepened.