Notwithstanding the skyrocketing inflation, executives from the fast growing economies of India and China are more optimistic than their Asian and European counterparts in believing that the price rise would slow down in the next six months, a latest survey says.

The highest percentage of executives from India and China, about 28 per cent, expect inflation rate to decrease in six months from now, as against just 11 and nine per cent in Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions, respectively. 

• Inflation, the silent killer

However, 64 per cent of the executives in India do not expect to see any decline in the inflation rate in the next six months, while a lesser 59 per cent of Chinese respondents favour a fall in inflation in their country, a latest survey by the McKinsey Quarterly stated. 

Besides, in Europe about 76 per cent executives and 86 per cent in Asia Pacific region feel inflation would not decrease in the next six months. 

The McKinsey Quarterly which conducted the survey in June had received responses from 1,431 executives around the world.

"Executives around the world feel stymied by current economic conditions although most respondents face rising inflation, almost half do not expect their companies to raise prices over the next six months," the survey revealed.

The survey highlights that expectations of inflation have escalated over the past six months as food and energy prices have continued to rise and almost three-quarters (74per cent) of the executives now expect higher inflation, up from 60 per cent in December 2007.