Blackstone CEO remains bullish about Asia

Singapore

ASIA remains a "great bet long term'', said Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and chief executive of Blackstone, even as slowing growth in China and the expectation of QE (quantitative easing ) tapering have dampened investor interest.

"Asia is caught up by the same general emerging market set of issues. People believe that if interest rates go up, it's less hospitable for Asian economies, and (Asia) is to some degree affected by China's consumption of commodities,'' he said. "It's hard for Asian economies to grow at the same historic rate if China doesn't grow at i…