Asia needs to keep crisis lessons in mind: ADB<\/p>\n
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Agencies): Asian countries need to keep
\nthe painful lessons of economic upheaval in mind to avoid a
\ndevastating new blow from the increasingly globalized economy,
\nthe president of the Asian Development Bank warned Saturday.<\/p>\n
Tadao Chino opened the Manila-based bank's annual meeting with
\nan appeal to Asian governments - who saw the regional economy
\nrecover with 6.4 percent growth last year after shrinking 7.7
\npercent in 1998 - to avoid complacency now that the Asian
\nfinancial crisis seems past.<\/p>\n
"Asia must not revert to business as usual, taking the crisis
\nas simply a short-term aberration," Chino told an audience
\nincluding finance ministers and central bankers from around the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
Asia risks a new shock, which would hit hardest the 900
\nmillion people living in dire poverty, unless it speeds up
\ncorporate and financial reforms that would improve governance and
\nreduce corruption, Chino said.<\/p>\n
Chino said that countries without sound policies and
\ninstitutional capacities were more vulnerable to the "social and
\neconomic stresses as well as financial volatility" generated by
\nthe globalizing economy.<\/p>\n
"Globalization presents developing economies with enormous
\nopportunities, but it also poses risks that have to be managed,"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The benefits include increased access to foreign markets for
\ndeveloping countries, which can increase inflows of capital,
\ntechnological and managerial know-how, raising employment and
\nproductivity, he said.<\/p>\n
Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who has pushed through a
\nradical program of economic reforms, warned that the only way to
\navoid a repeat of the crisis was to tackle fundamental weaknesses
\nin Asian economies.<\/p>\n
"We must not become complacent, nor be locked into a false
\nsense of security," he said. "The East Asian financial crisis
\nwill go down in history as ... a wake up call for several
\ncountries."<\/p>\n
Chuan pledged that Thailand, where the 1997 crisis erupted,
\nwould not stint in its drive for economic reform, and said it was
\n"critical" that other Asian governments also promoted a reform
\nagenda.<\/p>\n
Delegates at the three-day conference were expected to discuss
\na range of measures aimed at improving living standards in Asia
\nand an expansion of the bank's soft-loan facility.<\/p>\n
The comments were in line with the Asian Development Bank
\nannual report issued in Bangkok last month, which said that
\nalthough Asia remained the world's fastest growing region, it
\nstill faced systemic risks.<\/p>\n
Crisis-hit countries have spent the last few years overhauling
\ncorruption-riddled and inefficient financial systems which
\ncollapsed when speculators saw an easy victim in Asian currencies
\nin 1997.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asia-needs-to-keep-crisis-lessons-in-mind-adb-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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