STUDY: ASIA CAN ADDRESS GLOBAL POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC IMBALANCE

SINGAPORE, Dec 7 (Bernama) -- Asia, particularly China and India, can play
a larger role in coordinating the global process of addressing the world's
political and economic imbalance, a bank study said.

The theme study on globalisation, released here by Rabobank, said as
financial and economic conditions normalised, the dynamic Asia region was
benefiting from rebounding trade flows.

The "Globalisation at a Crossroads" study is being published to coincide
with Rabobank's Outlook 2010 publication.

Rabobank economists noted that the emerging world had reported a trade
surplus in the past decade while the industrialised world had posted a trade
deficit during the same period.

"This means that the emerging world has in effect been financing the
industrial countries' trade deficit," the bank said.

It added that as the political and economic balances of power were
inextricably interlinked, it would have considerable effect on the global
political stage.

Rabobank said that while cyclical factors were improving global imbalances
currently as developed nations -- most of which are deficit nations --
experienced weak demand conditions, there was a need for global coordination to
entrench the factors that would drive re-balancing over time.

"The study calls for daring politicians to stand up and be heard," the bank
said, adding that it expected to increasingly hear voices from the developing
world in the debate and here was an opportunity for Asia to have its voice
heard.

"China and India, in particular, have considerable scope to play a larger
role reflecting their development momentum and large populations," Rabobank's
financial markets research Asia head Dr Adrian Foster said.

The study also discussed the global trade and mapped out the drivers of the
rise in global trade flows that had been both a corollary and a contributor to
the impressive trend rate of global economic growth through recent decades.

Rabobank economists also pointed out that emerging economies now accounted
for half of world trade and were already as important as the industrialised
world in terms of international trade.

It also noted the sharp contraction in global trade that resulted from the
recent financial crisis and highlighted the dangers of increasing protectionism.

Rabobank Group is a full-range financial services provider headquartered in
Utrecht, the Netherlands, and employing more than 60,000 staff in 46 countries.

-- BERNAMA