GE sees LatAm, Middle East outpacing Asia in 2012

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - General Electric Co expects its sales growth in resource-rich countries in Latin America and the Middle East to outpace that in China and Asia, which has been a major focus for the largest U.S. conglomerate.

Ahead of an investor meeting in Brazil on Wednesday, the world's biggest maker of jet engines and electric turbines also confirmed its target for overall corporate profit to rise at a double-digit percentage rate this year,

The company forecast 20 to 25 percent sales growth in what it calls the "resource rich" regions of Latin America, Australia, the Middle East and Africa, outpacing forecast 10 to 15 percent growth in Asia.

"We think that within the next 10 years, the growth markets will contribute 50 percent of the company's revenue," up from about 37 percent currently, said John Rice, a GE vice chairman who runs the company's foreign operations.

About 56 percent of GE's 301,000 employees work outside the United States, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company generated 53 percent of its $147.3 billion in 2011 sales outside the United States.

(Writing by Scott Malone in Boston editing by Gerald E. McCormick)