Global Financial Market Losses $50 Trillion

The global financial crisis slashed the value of financial assets worldwide by $50 trillion last year, a study commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday.

Financial asset losses in developing Asia, which suffered more than other emerging markets, totaled $9.6 trillion, or just over one year's worth of developing Asia's gross domestic product, the study said.

ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda, speaking to delegates at a bank conference where the study was released, said he feared the region's economies would suffer further before they start to bounce back.

'This is by far the most serious crisis to hit the world economy since the Great Depression. While this crisis originated in the US and some European countries, by now no region or country is insulated,' Kuroda said.

According to the ADB study, the figures provide clear proof of the close connections between markets and economies around the world, leaving few, if any, countries immune to financial or economic fallout. A recovery can only now be envisaged for late 2009 or early 2010.

[Kuroda] said the ADB has responded by stepping up access to loans, grants and credit guarantees by several billion dollars from the originally planned $12 billion for 2009, and is asking its shareholders to increase the bank's capital to as much as possible.