$50 trillion reportedly wiped off world financial assets

MANILA, Philippines — The global crisis wiped a staggering $50 trillion off the value of financial assets last year including $9.6 trillion of losses in developing Asia alone, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday.

"This is by far the most serious crisis to hit the world economy since the Great Depression," said ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda.

A study commissioned by the Manila-based lender on the impact of the financial crisis on emerging economies estimated the value of financial assets worldwide — currency, equity and bond markets — to have dropped by $50 trillion in 2008.

It said developing Asia — losing the equivalent of just over one year's worth of gross domestic product — was hit harder than other emerging economies because the region has expanded much more rapidly.

In Latin America, losses were estimated at $2.1 trillion. There were no comparable figures for other regions.

The former chief of the International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus, said financial reforms were needed quickly and proposed the establishment of a global governance group composed of country representatives, the U.N. secretary-general and key international agencies, to define a way out of the crisis and prevent future turmoil.