Asia, not US, driving global growth

Asia puts a Germany on the map every 3.5 years in terms of economic size and will add three Euro zones in 25 years, said David Carbon, chief economist of DBS Bank, during the DBS Asian Insights Conference 2014 held in Singapore on Friday.

"How does that happen? If there's any magic at all, it's the magic of compound growth," he said.

Asia completely traded places with the US four years after the US got the ultimate test when Lehman Brothers went down in 2008, he said.

Back to 2007 and 2008, what people read on the front page of the newspaper everyday was that the US consumer bought everything but Asia was not doing its fair share to drive global growth. All Asia did was produce, sell to the West, put the money in the bank and save it.

But now, Asia is driving global growth.

In 2015, Asia will create $2.5 of new demands for every dollar the US will put on the global table every year. Back in 1980, for every dollar Asia was putting out, the US was putting out $2.5 or $3, Carbon said.