More prepared to deal with another financial crisis

Should Asia face another financial crisis, chances are it will be more prepared to deal with it than during the 1997/98 Asian economic meltdown, Asean corporate leaders said yesterday.

They, however, added that no country was completely immune to shocks or turbulence, and preparedness for any crisis came from lots of effort and hard work.

Khazanah Nasional managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said if it was not for the 1997/98 Asian crisis, the region would have been worse off in the 2008 global financial meltdown.

However, when it came to volatility and instability, the two negative elements were still lingering and Asian countries must not stop working on the best ways to cushion any impact that might arise from yet another crisis, he said.

Azman was one of the panelists in a plenary session, titled "Is Asia Ready for the Next Financial Crisis?" at the inaugural CIMB Asean Conference here yesterday.

He said the role played by Asian government leaders and the business models that were shaping the direction of Asian corporates, among other things, would lead the way forward for the region to tackle any crisis or volatility.

Former Philippine secretary of finance Jose Isidro Camacho said the 1997/98 crisis had resulted in a stronger Asia when it was hit by the 2008 crisis but it did not totally decouple the region from the West.

He said some countries did experience contraction in their gross domestic product numbers resulting from the latest financial crisis because, with open economies, Asia was still exposed to global economic conditions.

Camacho, who is now Credit Suisse Asia Pacific managing director, said he was cautiously optimistic of Asia's future should another crisis ensue.

AIA Group chief executive officer Mark Tucker, another panelist, concurred with Camacho's views. Asia had learned credible lessons from the 1997/98 crisis and had came out significantly stronger, Tucker said.

He said while Asia was not immune from any economic fallout, its stronger banking systems and economies meant that the region was prepared for any downturn.

Indonesian Arwin Rasyid, who is CIMB Niaga chief executive officer, said if there was one thing his country learned from the Asian crisis 13 years ago, it was governance.

"There was a lot of misgovernance happening at that time which made us the most severely affected but since then, we have improved our governance significantly."


By Roziana Hamsawi, btimes.com.my