Tokyo

CREDIT-FUELLED growth could end up producing financial crises in some Asian economies, a senior IMF official warned on Friday, while suggesting that this could be a greater threat to the region than any potential turbulence brought by monetary tightening in the US.

Changyong Rhee, director of the International Monetary Fund's Asia and Pacific department, said: "Many countries have relied on fiscal and monetary stimulus to produce credit- fuelled growth (and this could lead to) financial crises."