LEADER: Not yet time to push the panic button

<p>CMR and ACNielsen figures for the first quarter show sluggish growth in </p><p>Asia's advertising expenditure. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, it's not yet time to push the panic button. Last year, the </p><p>industry was given a major boost by dotcom advertising. Discounting the </p><p>spend by web operators, the growth figures should be a great deal higher </p><p>than those that are currently being reported. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But while advertisers and their agency partners are cautious about the </p><p>rest of the year, they are less pessimistic than in January following </p><p>news that the US economy was slowing and could slip into a recession. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>