The 27-member group, led by renowned American economist Jeffrey Sachs, has called for more co-ordinated action between Japan, South Korea, China and other Asian countries to deal with the global crisis.

The economists expect the major Asian economies to have a co-ordinated macroeconomic policy framework in place ahead of Friday's G20 summit in Washington.

'Macroeconomic expansion in Asia will not only help to sustain Asian's own economic growth and employment levels, but will also help to put a floor on the coming global slowdown,' the panel wrote in a two-page statement.

With the United States and parts of Europe including Britain, Germany and Spain, already in a recession that is likely to be 'severe and prolonged', the economists said 'urgent and co-ordinated action' is needed by Asian economies in the form of monetary, fiscal and exchange rate actions.

Co-ordinated macroeconomic action would lead to higher growth in Asia. This would enable Asian consumers to purchase American-made goods, thus helping to cushion a recession in the US and Europe, they said.

With China, Japan and South Korea as the leaders, the panel laid out seven steps that Asian economies should take to protect their economic growth, that should be co-ordinated by a committee of senior Ministry of Finance and central bank officials from the three countries.

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