For those scoffing at Asian economies which, by most accounts, are yet to recover from the 1997 crisis, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets has some interesting points. Its latest research report, Boomophobia, begins with a quote from Tim Congdon's The Debt Threat, which points out that it took the US a generation to get over the Great Depression "" essentially, psychologically scarred individuals (as householders and corporate executives) take a while to get back to the old attitudes when it comes to taking on debt, the stock market and overall investment. In most countries, Korea seems to be the exception, private sector bank credit ratios (relative to GDP) are still below the pre-1997 level; in Japan, the proportion of cash or cash-equivalent being held has risen to 77 per cent of GDP, double that in 1997; similarly, loan-deposit ratios are also down sharply (again, Korea is the exception). Interestingly, while most continue to be bullish on China, CLSA's analysis suggests India's a better bet "" the Chinese consumer, CLSA says, is a worried woman and is unlikely to take on more risk, the exact opposite of the Indian consumer.
