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To: D. Swiss who wrote (77030)	11/8/1998 8:20:00 AM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 176387

<Asian Economies> Signs of recovery Drew, Looks like we are beginning to see some signs of recovery in Asia according this report. ============================================ Nov 8 1998 3:33AM - Bloomberg News Asian Economies, Thailand, Showing Signs of Recovery, IMF Says Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Asia's badly affected economies such as Thailand are showing signs of a recovery, said International Monetary Fund deputy managing director Stanley Fischer said. ''Most badly affected countries are probably now close to bottom or even at the bottom now,'' he told reporters after a two- day meeting of Pacific Rim deputy finance ministers and central bankers in Kuala Lumpur. His comments come as countries from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia to South Korea, have slid to recessions amid Asia's currency crisis sparked by the collapse of the Thai baht in July last year. Their recovery has also depended on Japan, one of Southeast Asia's biggest investors and lenders, which is facing its worst recession in five decades. ''The sooner the (Japanese) get on with fixing the banking sector, the sooner the credit growth will resume in Japan and export of capital to this region will continue,'' he said. Japan's parliament last month approved a 60 trillion yen ($510 billion) package aimed at strengthening lenders and shoring up the economy. ''The fact that we're talking about a turnaround now is already encouraging, and there has been important progress in banking sector restructuring in this region but less progress on the corporate side,'' he said. ''But in each of the crisis countries that have IMF-supported programs, there are frameworks in place to deal with the corporate sector restructuring, and that's the main challenge for the next few months.'' The IMF put together aid packages for Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and Russia over the last 15 months worth about $144 billion to help those countries overhaul their financial systems. ''If there's progress (on the region's corporate restructuring side), then I think we should be quite happy with the pace of reforms, though these are not easy things to do,'' said Fischer. Malaysia On Malaysia's recent plan to spend more on roads and rail projects, including introducing a mix of tax breaks unveiled in the government's budget for 1999, Fischer said ''that's appropriate.'' On Oct. 23, Malaysia introduced a mix of tax breaks and increases on gambling taxes to raise money to spend 4 billion ringgit on roads and rail projects. The government also forecast a deficit of 16.1 billion ringgit for next year. The plan was the clearest rejection yet of the IMF's austerity prescription for Asia's ailing economies. --T.H. Chan in Kuala Lumpur (603) 248-7000 through the Hong Kong newsroom/mb Story illustration: