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

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Poll: 72% of World Cutting Spending — Chinese customers shop at a Wal-Mart in Beijing, China, Thursday Oct. 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

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.
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