Fear not, Asia remains healthy

There is an irony to the sell-off in emerging markets recently. It is the result of a rare dose of uplifting news from the developed world - the US economy is showing enough strength to prompt the Federal Reserve to signal a paring back of its quantitative easing program.

In tumultuous times such as these we must look at the economic fundamentals to separate the "signal" from the "noise". The key question today is: Are the emerging markets fundamentally broken, or is this a brief phase in which investors re-adjust their portfolios in light of the US recovery becoming more sustainable?

In Asia, the downward re-assessment of the growth trend in China has been singled out as a potential trigger for a regionwide downturn. Additionally, rising debt levels among Asian governments, companies and consumers following the 2008-09 global financial crisis, encouraged by unusually low interest rates, have raised concerns. Let us examine these factors to assess how worried we should really be.