Global sovereign debt is not Asia's concern

As the rest of the world picks up the pieces from the global sovereign debt crisis, Asia seems to be weathering the fallout. On a country-by-country comparison, Asia's top dogs (India and China) are growing despite the stagnant US economy and the shrinking peripheral European states. And, for the time being, the healthy economic performance in Asia does not appear to be slowing.

"Asia is in a strong position to weather another wave of economic slowdown," said Elena Okorotchenko, managing director of sovereign and public finance ratings for Asia at Standard and Poor's.

Okorotchenko was a part of a panel discussion at yesterday's Asia-Pacific Debt Investor Forum, arranged by AsianInvestor and FinanceAsia, that discussed Asia's resilience against the current global sovereign debt crisis. She was joined by Owi Ruivivar, senior portfolio manager of emerging markets fixed-income at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in Singapore, and Diana Choyleva, a director at Lombard Street Research.

Over the past two years, the only country in Asia to be downgraded by Standard and Poor's has been Pakistan. In the same period, the rating agency has downgraded the sovereign ratings of 13 European countries.