Japan has offered $100bn in financial assistance to Asian countries hit by the global financial crisis in a move that shores up its economic leadership in the region in spite of its own severe recession.

Tokyo announced at a meeting of the finance ministers of the 10 countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations in Indonesia that it would set up a Y6,000bn ($61.5bn) bilateral currency swap scheme , on top of a $38.4bn commitment to the multilateral Chiang Mai initiative.