The decoupling theory took a knock during the 2009 global recession following the financial crisis because many Asian economies slowed sharply or contracted last year as their exports to America and Europe dried up.

 

But when the dust settled it was apparent they had held up better than advanced nations, helped in part by sounder banking sectors and domestic demand. They subsequently powered on, driven by monetary and fiscal stimulus, and are growing more quickly than the West.

 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast in April that developing Asia (the 44 ADB member countries and Brunei Darussalam) would grow by 7.5percent in 2010, up from 5.2percent in 2009. It predicted the region would expand by 7.3percent in 2011.

 

"Developing Asia quickly and strongly bounced back from the recent crisis," the ADB said in its 2010 outlook. "In fact, it led the world out of recession. This marks a complete reversal from the Asian crisis of 1997-98 when the region exported its way out of trouble."

 

In contrast to the prospects in developing Asia and other emerging markets, advanced economies face a more challenging outlook.

 

For instance, the International Monetary Fund forecasts American growth of 3.1percent and 2.6percent this year and next. Given the depth of the recession, many economists are disappointed by the track of the American recovery.

 

The IMF forecasts eurozone growth of just 1percent this year and 1.5percent in 2011, following the eurozone's 4.1percent contraction in 2009. Japan's economy shrank 1.2percent in 2008 and 5.2percent in 2009, but is forecast to grow just 1.9percent and 2percent in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

 

These figures have revived the decoupling debate, which is partly focused on whether domestic demand in emerging markets is becoming substantial enough to enable them to better withstand problems in key export markets like Europe and America.

 

Guy Longueville and Francois Faure, economists at BNP Paribas, asked in a recent research note whether beyond 2011 "emerging countries will be able to continue fuelling world growth as they did over the period 2002-08."

 

"They will. For most of them, the crisis did not erode potential growth that had been rising over the past decade," they wrote. "The biggest emerging economies have clearly pulled through this crisis even stronger, particularly China, India and Brazil, relative to the most industrialised countries," they added.