Xinhua, Washington :
Asia, the fastest-growing region in the world, has become much more resilient to weather financial storms with lessons learned from the Asian Financial Crisis 20 years ago, said a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Asian economies become much more resilient because of the lessons we learned” from the Asian Financial Crisis started in the summer of 1997, said Changyong Rhee, a well-respected economist and director of the Asia Pacific Department at the IMF.
“Now we understand the risk from the double mismatch problem, you know the maturity mismatch and the currency mismatch, and now we understand how to use flexible exchange rates as a shock absorber,” Rhee told Xinhua in an interview on Friday on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
“I think many Asian countries learned a lot,” he said, citing currency account surpluses, high levels of foreign exchange reserves and much better fiscal consolidation in many Asian economies.
Asia, the fastest-growing region in the world, has become much more resilient to weather financial storms with lessons learned from the Asian Financial Crisis 20 years ago, said a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Asian economies become much more resilient because of the lessons we learned” from the Asian Financial Crisis started in the summer of 1997, said Changyong Rhee, a well-respected economist and director of the Asia Pacific Department at the IMF.
“Now we understand the risk from the double mismatch problem, you know the maturity mismatch and the currency mismatch, and now we understand how to use flexible exchange rates as a shock absorber,” Rhee told Xinhua in an interview on Friday on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
“I think many Asian countries learned a lot,” he said, citing currency account surpluses, high levels of foreign exchange reserves and much better fiscal consolidation in many Asian economies.
