BUSINESS CYCLES

BUSINESS CYCLES Andean countries will be stuck in recession this year, according to the executive opinion survey conducted by the World Economic Forum. For the past couple of years, the annual survey has ranked Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru among the countries most likely to be in the economic doldrums. The survey proved accurate in 1999; Brazil's score of only 2.1 on the seven-point scale of optimism correctly foretold another year of recession. This year executives judged Russia's prospects more kindly than in 1999; the country's score rose from 2.7 to 4.3. Several emerging economies were predicted to be further from recession than such giants as America and Japan. Most executives strongly agreed that South Africa, for example, is unlikely to slump. Opinions were mixed on East Asia. Singapore and Malaysia were forecast to boom, but the executives were less confident in their outlook for Indonesia and the Philippines.