Mr Fukuda said the Japanese economy was "faring pretty well"

But he stressed that rising inflation in the region is currently more of a threat than worries about a slowdown.

His comments came ahead of meeting of finance ministers from the G7 group of wealthy nations in Tokyo on Saturday.

There are expected to discuss ways they can cooperate to boost global economic growth and avoid a world credit crunch.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecast from 4.4% to 4.1%, the lowest in five years.

Coordinated action?

Following aggressive interest rate cuts in the US and the approval of a bill giving Americans tax rebates worth $167bn (�86bn), the focus will be on whether other industrialised nations will implement stimulus plans of their own.

But UK chancellor Alistair Darling played down the chances of coordinated action to tackle the global slowdown.

"The first thing is that conditions in different countries are not the same," he said.

While steep interest rate cuts and government spending might be the right move in the US, he said "other countries are not in the same position".

The G7 countries include the US, Japan, the UK, Canada, France, Germany and Italy, all of which are experiencing a significant slowdown in growth.

Wider problems

Meanwhile, China, India and other East and South East Asian economies have experienced break-neck growth over the past few years as current account surpluses and foreign exchange reserves have ballooned.

But as the global credit crisis and US housing slump has brought the world's largest economy to its knees, concerns have persisted that these problems would spread to Asia, which is heavily reliant on US imports of its products and foreign investment for growth

The ADB's Mr Kuroda confirmed these worries.

"A significant slowdown in the US economy will most certainly affect the region's growth performance through investment, trade and financial linkages," he said.

"A deep and prolonged US recession should it ever occur, could be accompanied by much slower growth in Asia."

He said that in that case, governments should take steps to bolster confidence in the region's economies, including introducing fiscal measures if necessary.

But Mr Kuroda added that this was not an immediate priority for Asia's policy makers right now, as they struggle to put a lid on spiralling consumer prices.

Eurozone fears

Meanwhile, perception have changed as to whether the European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to reduce interest rates from their current level of 4% to help boost growth in the eurozone.

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet has previously maintained a tough line on controlling inflation in the 15-nation bloc that uses the euro despite clear signs that a frail recovery was running out of steam.

But following an ECB decision to keep rates on hold on Thursday, he appeared to shift focus, stressing the risks to the global economy in his press conference.

This raised hopes that eurozone interest rates could be cut later this year.