Europe faces grim outlook, Asia propels world economy

LONDON. December 13. KAZINFORM European Union (EU) economies will fall back into recession next year, while Asian nations, foremost China, will stimulate the world economy, a London-based international bank said Monday.

According to Xinhua, in global economic terms, 2012 would see a suffering West and a resilient East, Gerard Lyons, chief economist with Standard Chartered, told Xinhua in an interview.

"It's a two-speed world, a fragile West, but no one can be decoupled from events elsewhere on the globe. Events in Europe are leading things down early in the year, and a rebound in China and Asia is leading things up later in the year," Lyons said.

The latest events in the EU do not yet reveal a clear path to growth and stability, he said.

"In terms of the euro area and Britain, the policy cupboard is almost bare and confidence has been hit hard. In terms of confidence, it is market impact, and also economic impact. It's not just a market-driven phenomenon, but what is happening in the market is contributing," Lyons said.

In its annual global economic forecast for the year ahead, Standard Chartered predicted that Britain's economy would slip into recession, shrinking by 1.3 percent, and the eurozone would fare worse with a 1.5 percent decline.

The bank's figures for the British economy are worse than those of Finance Minister George Osborne and of the Office for Budget Responsibility, an independent economic statistics body

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