Technical meeting: Book on the Global Financial Crisis and Implications for Asia

Background

Sustained economic growth can contribute significantly to poverty reduction. Indeed, countries that have enjoyed economic growth for long periods of time have witnessed marked declines in poverty incidence. But an economic and financial crisis could frustrate such development. Even though countries can recover quickly from the crisis, they may not return to the same growth path as before the crisis, thus delaying further the economic development process. Because a crisis can have long-term developmental implications, ADBI is keen in making a contribution to the understanding of the causes of a crisis and to the formulation of policy measures that ADB's developing member countries (DMCs) could adopt to avoid a crisis.

The current financial crisis and global economic downturn did not originate in Asia, and, indeed, Asian countries in structural terms are generally in good shape. Nonetheless, Asian economies and financial markets have already begun to feel the impacts of the crisis, and these are likely to deepen substantially over the coming year. The most obvious areas of impact have been exports and equity markets, which have declined sharply across the region, but stresses in currency and credit markets have emerged as well, and domestic demand has softened. This sensitivity has been heightened by the export-led growth strategies followed by many countries.

ADBI has organized a series of conferences on various topics related to the impact of the global financial crisis on Asia and policy recommendations for achieving more sustainable and inclusive growth in the region. This activity is to produce an overall book which reviews and summarizes the insights from earlier conferences and other sources, and offers policy recommendations for achieving sustainable and inclusive growth in Asia.

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Objectives

The purpose of this conference is to present the final drafts of the book chapters on the implications of the global financial crisis for Asia. Towards the end of the conference, the participants, guided by the findings of the various research papers and comments raised, will discuss implications for Asia's policy responses to the global crisis and identify possible regional cooperation initiatives.

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Participants

The participants in this workshop will include members of the core study group, other resource persons who will comment on the various draft reports, and a broader audience including high-level officials of ASEAN+3's ministries of finance and central banks, multilateral agencies and academics.