Presenting the UN's annual world economic report to media in Bangkok, senior adviser Raj Kumar said Asia must wean itself off a reliance of trade with industrialised countries and pool resources.

'This is a time to really take action... if the region benefits, everyone will benefit,' he said.

'You need to reduce your reliance on trade with the West alone. You need to trade with each other more - remove your protectionist barriers, don't use your neighbour as a rival,' he said.

The UN's macroeconomic policy chief, Tiziana Bonapace, said a regional regulatory system and pooled foreign currency reserves should also be introduced to manage the crisis.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009 predicts just one per cent global economic growth in 2009, with East Asia's growth decelerating further to 6.0 per cent, down from 6.9 per cent in 2008 and 9.0 per cent in 2007.

But a more pessimistic scenario puts growth as low as 4.6 per cent, it said.

In South Asia, economic growth was strong in 2008 at 7.0 per cent, but with commodity prices now low and falling, regional growth there will probably slow to 6.4 per cent and possibly as low as 4.0 per cent in 2009, the report said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is expected to meet with key economic partners Japan, China and South Korea in April in Bangkok to begin setting up an Asian monetary fund for a common response to economic hardships.

The UN report singled out China as the key locomotive of regional growth, once it has dealt with its own problems, Mr Kumar said.

'China is having some adjustment problems of trying to move away from relying on exports (and the) move towards China-oriented domestic growth will require it to work itself out,' he added.

But other economies must follow China's lead in planning massive fiscal stimulus packages in the short term to bolster hard-hit communities, he said. -- AFP