By Roderick T. dela Cruz

Asia took a bigger hit from the global financial crisis than the rest of the world, with financial losses in the region amounting to $9.6 trillion in 2008, the Asian Development Bank said yesterday.

The World Bank, meanwhile, said developing countries faced a financing shortfall of $270 billion to $700 billion this year, as private sector creditors shun emerging markets, and only a quarter of the most vulnerable countries had the resources to prevent a rise in poverty.

A study commissioned by the ADB estimated losses on financial assets in developing Asia in 2008 at $9.6 trillion, or just over one year?s worth of the gross domestic product of its members.

The financial crisis reduced the value of financial assets by a massive $50 trillion last year, with developing Asia suffering more than other emerging market regions, according to the results of the ADB study released yesterday.

The losses refer to equity and bond markets, including those backed by mortgages and other assets, and the depreciation of many currencies against the US dollar. Not included are financial derivatives, such as credit default swaps that further multiplied the size of the financial markets.

The ADB study said Asia was hit harder than other parts of the developing world because the region?s markets had expanded much more rapidly in the past. The value of financial assets rose to 370 percent of GDP in developing Asia in 2007 from 250 percent of GDP in 2003.

In comparison, the ratio in Latin America went up by only 30 percent, and financial losses in the region amounted to $2.1 trillion, or 57 percent of GDP.

?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. I am afraid things may get worse before they get better,? said ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda, speaking to delegates at a bank conference where the study was released.

?However, I remain confident that Asia will be one of the first regions to emerge from it, and it will emerge stronger than ever before,? Kuroda added.

A report by the World Bank said only a quarter of the most vulnerable countries had the resources to prevent a rise in poverty.

The World Bank said international financial institutions could not by themselves cover the shortfall.