ADB: Asian economies to grow at faster rate

MANILA: The Asian Development Bank raised its economic growth forecast for the region on strengthening expansions in China, India and Indonesia, and said it's too early for governments to withdraw stimulus policies.

Asia, excluding Japan, will grow 3.9 percent in 2009, faster than a March estimate of 3.4 percent, the Manila-based institution said. Growth may accelerate in 2010 to 6.4 percent, it said.

The region is leading the world's emergence from its deepest recession since the 1930s after Asian policymakers cut interest rates to unprecedented lows and governments announced more than $950 billion of stimulus measures, helping the global economy avert a spiral into another Great Depression.