By Xinhua,
Trujillo (Peru) : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said it would help Asian economies deal with the world financial crisis.
Director of the ADB Economic Integration Office Lee Jong-whan made the pledge Tuesday at a meeting of high level finance officials from the 21 economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which focussed on issues like soaring prices and food shortages.
Lee said the ADB has resources to help Asia’s economies tackle the financial crisis together.
The ADB official said the bank can create adequate conditions for solving the financial problems of each economy.
Learning from the experience of the Asian crisis in 1997-1998 which generated the chain devaluation of currencies of many countries in the region, the ADB would focus on “mechanisms linked to the capital market and banks, which would tend to strengthen national currencies, and it would help investors and monitor the measures that each country takes,” Lee said.
The meeting of finance ministers is expected to pave the way for the annual APEC summit Nov 22-23 in Lima, Peru, where 21 leaders of the member economies will discuss the ongoing financial turmoil and a plan for a new Asia-Pacific free trade community.