PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it sees strong sales growth in Latin America this financial year, despite a slowdown in the U.S. economy.

Sony, a leading audio-visual electronics company, said sales to the region, which account for 8 percent of its total business, rose 30 percent to $6 billion in the 12 months to March 31.

Sales should expand 25 percent in the 2008-2009 fiscal year, said Richard Fairest, Sony's president for Central America, the Caribbean, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Fairest said a boom in Latin American residential construction would help demand for televisions and household electronics, offsetting any impact from slower growth in the world's top economy, such as lower remittances from Latin Americans living in the United States.

"Latin America is more isolated from the problems in North America," Fairest told reporters on a visit to the Panamanian capital.

Fairest said sales were also being helped by aggressive promotion of Sony's retail outlets in shopping centers across the region.

(Reporting by Andrew Beatty; Editing by Braden Reddall)