Foreign-currency debt looms again as a problem for emerging Asia: ADB

Tokyo

IN tones reminiscent of the onset of the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday warned countries in the region to "limit reliance" on foreign debt as global capital flows become increasingly volatile in the face of interest-rate uncertainties.

The warning came in the latest update of the bank's annual Asian Development Outlook (ADO) report which said that growth in the developing Asia region as a whole will be only 5.8 per cent this year and 6 per cent in 2016, rather than the 6.3 per cent forecast earlier for both years.

China is the chief cause of the projected lower growth, with South-east Asia expected to bear the brunt of the …