East Asia started flexing its collective financial muscle in the battle against the global slowdown over the weekend, with the head of the Asian Development Bank saying he was confident his shareholders would triple the ADB’s capital, and regional finance ministers committing $40bn more to a strengthened regional liquidity fund.

The moves show that East Asian economies, which between them control $3,500bn in foreign reserves but have been badly hit by the slowdown in exports, are willing to commit substantial funds to multilateral action to counter the financial crisis.