ASEAN economies bottom out

ASEAN economies bottom out

MANILA, Philippines (AP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations' crisis-hit economies are all showing signs of hitting bottom, a senior official said Thursday.

Suthad Setboonsarng, ASEAN's deputy secretary general, said an economic forecast by a monitoring group set up by the nine-member block shows "we are hitting the bottom" of the regionwide slump.

In an effort to avert future financial crises and deal with those that arise, ASEAN agreed nearly two years ago to establish a mutual surveillance system aimed at spotting problems in each others' economies before they become serious.

Suthad, who is in Manila for an annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank, said the oversight group's report, which is still being prepared, will be submitted to ASEAN finance ministers later this year.

The surveillance system is one of the few measures ASEAN took as a group to deal with the region's financial turmoil, but getting the system up and running has been an arduous process.