Poll: 72% of World Cutting Spending

Economic malaise spreads to emerging markets, hits hard

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 23, 2008 9:01 AM CST

(Newser) – Nearly three-quarters of households worldwide are cutting spending, with emerging markets particularly fretful about global economic woes, a 22-country survey found. Those countries are facing “precipitous decline," putting “in check any notion of 'decoupling’”—the idea that emerging markets are working independently of those of developed countries, said a pollster. Consumer optimism worldwide has fallen by half, Reuters reports.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

Chinese customers shop at a Wal-Mart in Beijing, China, Thursday Oct. 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

A woman shops at a mall in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Chinese women walk through a quiet Beijing shopping mall on Monday, Nov. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

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We expected things to be bad, but it's most striking in the two big emerging markets, India and China. It's not
good news in the short to medium term. - Clifford Young of polling firm Ipsos Global Public Affairs

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Poll: 72% of World Cutting Spending