Averting economic crisis in developing Asia through economic surveillance: the role of the Asian Development Bank

Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its initial stages of establishment focused mainly on financing development projects such as irrigation, power, roads and bridges, and later, education and health in its developing member countries (DMCs). From the 1990s, in response to the region’s emerging needs, the ADB took actions to move towards a broad-based multilateral development institution. One major action was its response to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, including emergency lending to the crisis-affected countries in East and Southeast Asia, support for their post-crisis structural reforms, and assistance in strengthening regional monetary and financial cooperation among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and Korea (ASEA+3). This chapter looks at the ADB’s support for ASEAN+3 countries in developing a regional financial safety net and putting in place economic surveillance arrangements—key components of their monetary and financial cooperation - to make the region economically and financially more resilient.