Adb Moots Remu To Monitor Economies

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is promoting the establishment of a regional economic monitoring unit (Remu). The unit will support regional and sub-regional economic surveillance by complementing individual country and global efforts, a leading ADB official said.

"The East Asian crisis has highlighted that contagion tends to be the most serious among neighbouring countries," said Pradumna B Rana, senior economist at ADB's Economics and Development Resource Center.

The effort would involve peer surveillance and a perspective stemming from an in-depth knowledge of local conditions, Rana said. finance ministers of Asean has requested the ADB to set up the regional economic monitoring system, he added.