South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance said on Thursday that finance and central bank deputies from Korea, China and Japan, along with their ASEAN counterparts, discussed the economic impact of the Middle East war and regional policy responses at meetings held by videoconference on Wednesday. The meetings, which included officials from 14 countries as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office, were originally scheduled to take place in Manila but were moved online following the Philippines’ declaration of a national energy emergency.

Participants shared assessments of rising downside risks