The global economy would soon be heavily influenced by the movements in the economies of China and India, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said in a speech in New York on Wednesday night.

Declining to mention Australia's own economic standing at the American Australian Annual Spring Lecture in New York, Mr Stevens discussed how China's economic growth would be like in five years, which could surpass that of Europe and even match that of the United States.

Australia's central bank governor said: "The Chinese economy will have cycles; it will not trace out a path of steady, uninterrupted expansion. But by any reckoning, the emergence of China is a huge historical event."

China's share of world economic output last year rose to more than 13 percent, from less than 4 percent two decades ago. In contrast, the U.S. and European Union each accounted for about 20 percent in 2010, down from about 25 percent each in 1990, Mr Stevens pointed out

"As the Asian region becomes more integrated economically, with an ever larger Chinese and Indian economic mass at the core, and as the accretion of Asian financial wealth assumes increasing global significance, Asia is likely more often to be a source of 'shocks' for the global economy and financial system," he said.

Stevens cited Asia's "quite high" savings rates and the rise of China's banking industry, the Shanghai stock exchange's growth and increasing bond sales as evidence of the region's emergence.

"It is not just the centre of gravity of economic activity that is shifting to Asia -- the weight of financial assets is also shifting," he said. "I am not suggesting that Wall Street will dance exclusively to Shanghai's tune. The U.S. economy and financial system will remain very large and internationally important for the foreseeable future."

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