LONDON: China's economy will be the first to recover from the global recession, predicted a top international business leader yesterday.

In an interview with China Daily, Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, tipped emerging nations to escape the financial gloom earlier than developed economies, but he warned the process will still be a slow one.

China began to feel the force of the crisis following the Beijing Olympics last summer, with factory closures across the country causing mass unemployment among migrant workers.

But Sorrell said: "We noticed a little bit of (economic) improvement in China in February, we will see whether it was maintained in March.

"The Chinese have the scale of the projects in terms of infrastructure, which is already in place. What they can do is to bring those projects forward and accelerate the growth. That could have a bigger impact on the economy."

And he added: "If you ask me who I think will come out of the recession first, I'd say China."

But he warned that the developed countries now in recession must still find the right projects and initiate them, "so the process will be slow".

Based in London, the WPP Group is the largest communications services group in the world and a leading advertising holding company, occupying around 15 percent of China's advertising market.

Four months ago, Sorrell wrote an article for British newspaper The Times, titled "Obama offers hope amid gloom in 2009", saying he believed the global economy could show signs of recovery this year. But today he is not so optimistic. The world economy has become "tougher and gloomier", he said.

Although 2009 is going to be a "very difficult year", he said countries with large savings and resources, such as China, India and Brazil, would maintain their competitive advantage and develop faster.

It is the reason China is now WPP Group's third biggest market behind the United States and Britain, employing around 11,000 people in the country. Its revenue for this year is expected to hit $800 billion, a "muted growth" of 3 or 4 percent, said the CEO.

The group now plans to increase its investment in emerging economies, as well as in new media markets.

"The growth of PCs, the Internet and video content will change the nature and face of the media in China, just as it has across the world," he added.