Complacency could end Asian recovery<\/p>\n
CANBERRA (AFP): Asia's extraordinary recovery from financial
\ncrisis will not be sustained if complacency destroys economic,
\npolitical and corporate restructuring, the head of the Asian
\nDevelopment Bank (ADB) warned here Monday.<\/p>\n
But ADB President Tadao Chino also said recent slumps on Asian
\nshare markets did not mean the region was heading for a second
\neconomic crisis.<\/p>\n
The former Japanese government minister who was appointed head
\nof the Manila-based bank last year said recovery from the
\ncatastrophe of 1997\/98 proved the region had the ability to
\nwithstand economic shocks.<\/p>\n
He told the National Press Club that developing economies in
\nthe region grew more than six percent last year and growth was
\nset to continue at a more moderate pace this year and next.<\/p>\n
\"I believe that the weakening of the Asian financial markets
\nnow may well be a short-term correction and that the region's
\ngrowth momentum will be maintained,\" Chino said.<\/p>\n
However, he warned this could be put at risk by growing budget
\ndeficits and complacency, which has seen a number of countries
\nease off on reforms and revert to more protectionist policies
\nbecause of a belief the crisis was now over.<\/p>\n
\"My optimism is based on the assumption all the countries in
\nAsia will continue their serious reforms in the near future,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"If people become slow in this economic reform process...
\nthere is a risk of a further stoppage of this rate of economic
\ngrowth.\"<\/p>\n
But Chino said the greatest challenge to the region and the
\nADB was to make the economic recovery deliver for the 900 million
\npeople in the Asia-Pacific who still live in poverty.<\/p>\n
He said economic growth was the most powerful weapon in the
\nfight against poverty as it delivered employment and wealth and
\ngave governments the money needed to improve infrastructure and
\nsocial services.<\/p>\n
But he said it was not enough on its own, and social
\ndevelopment, such as education and better governance, was also
\nessential to ensure the most vulnerable did not slide back into
\npoverty.<\/p>\n
\"The Asian crisis has shown how quickly poverty can recapture
\nthose who had only recently escaped it,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Chino, a veteran economist who rose to become Japan's vice
\nminister of finance for international affairs, was elected
\npresident by the ADB's board of governors last November.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/complacency-could-end-asian-recovery-1447893297",
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