Asia advised to develop SME businesses

Asian countries were advised to develop their small and medium businesses to cut down their reliance on exports.

Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Economic Adviser to the United States President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, said here on Monday that this was crucial to boost domestic spending. She was speaking on the sideline of the World Capital Markets Symposium themed "The Global Financial Crisis: The Way Ahead" here.

Tyson said Asian countries could explore fields with a high multiplier effect to generate growth and employment for the benefits of the people. She said emerging markets with high surpluses in Asia could assist those with low surplus in terms of development. When asked if Asia had become the global growth engine, Tyson said Asia could move off the model that depends heavily on the US.

Asked if the US needed another stimulus package, Tyson said it was too early to comment as the US had very limited ability to forecast the future outlook of its economy.

She said that the regulators of the fiscal and monetary policies knew what to do but they did not know when to take appropriate measures.

She said that the US stimulus package would no longer bear effect starting third quarter next year. KUALA LUMPUR, Xinhua