Tuesday, May 20, 2008

GE feeling the squeeze in Asia (Asia Slowdown?)

From the Financial Times:

General Electric, the world’s largest industrial group, is starting to feel the ripple effects from the global financial crisis in its Chinese and Indian operations.
Nani Beccalli, head of GE International, forecast economic growth would slow in the two Asian countries. This had al­ready had an impact on the re­sults of the conglomerate, which derives more than half its revenues from non-US businesses.

“The credit crunch is affecting everybody, including China and India. Internationally we grew by 22 per cent last quarter [in revenues]. But we could have grown by 27 per cent or 30 per cent so, yes, it had an effect,” Mr Beccalli told the Financial Times.

The comments mark a shift in GE’s assessment of emerging markets in Asia and highlight the nervousness some industrial executives have shown about a possible slowdown in growth there....MORE