London, August 17:

Time was when a financial crisis in Argentina, Mexico, Thailand or Russia would trigger much wider problems around the world as investors rushed for the exit.

Now, though, financial woes engulfing the world have a distinct “Made in America” label on them as the full extent of the reckless lending into the “sub-prime” mortgage market becomes apparent.

But this does not mean, that emerging markets are not feeling the impact. According to Maarten-Jan Bakkum of ABN AMRO Asset Management, emerging market equity indices have lost 13 per cent of their value since July 23. “Risk aversion is a factor in markets’ downturn, but there is also a fundamental re-assessment of the global growth prospects,” he said.

The fear for many economies, particularly in Asia, is that if the US problems drag the whole economy into recession.