BANGKOK?The Asian Development Bank yesterday warned the Association of Southeast Asian Nations against resorting to protectionist policies to boost their economies, saying that would not help them.

Instead, they should look to long-term fiscal stimulus programs to protect their economies against the global slowdown, bank president Haruhiko Kuroda said.

?We should avoid competing against each others? currency depreciations,? Kuroda told the finance ministers of Asean and its partners Japan, Korea and China.

?Helping stabilize currency movements in our region can fortify the accelerating trend of intra-regional trade and investment flows.?

Kuroda expressed concern over the divergence in the region?s exchange rates, citing the 20- percent increase in the Japanese yen?s exchange rate against the dollar since the economic downturn erupted in September last year.

By contrast, the Korean won has declined by 35 percent over the same period.

?Tax cuts and cash transfers are short-term measures. Long-term fiscal stimulus must also be carefully considered,? Kuroda added.

In the Philippines, the Arroyo administration has already adopted a P300-billion stimulus package, and mostly for infrastructure projects aimed at generating more jobs.

Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto had earlier proposed to increase the fiscal package by P200 billion over the next two to three years, but the Cabinet has shelved it.

Kuroda said Asean nations should also work to coordinate their respective foreign exchange policies even as he acknowledged that no country in the region was on the verge of a balance-of-payment crisis.

The proposed $120-billion currency swap arrangement, officially known as the Chiang Mai Fund, would provide liquidity to countries badly hit by the credit crisis and increase the resources for economic surveillance, he said.

?Unlike 12 years ago, no regional economy is currently facing a balance-of payment-crisis,? Kuroda said.

?But the [fund] will provide a social safety net support and confidence for the region?s financial stability.?

The ministers have also agreed to establish a regional securities trading platform to help develop the region?s stock market.

According to Patareeya Benjapolchai, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, arrangements for the platform would begin within the year to cover 30 stocks from each of the participating countries.

?The linkage will help Asean stock markets, which look small and not liquid on their own, to unite. This is also aimed at developing the region?s entire capital market,? Patareeya said.

?If the linkages prove successful, it will be a step forward toward the 2015 mission for an Asean community,? she said. Joyce Pangco Pa?ares