Clinton says USA should do more for Asia

President Clinton has said the United States must do more to help Asian countries weather the continuing turmoil on world currency and stock markets.

In an end-of-year news conference, President Clinton said it was in the United States' interest to support Asian economies, because exports to Asia provided a significant part of America's economic growth.

He suggested that the hundred-billion-dollars assembled so far by the International Monetary Fund might not be enough to end the currency problems.

The IMF says its cash reserves have been depleted by its efforts to bolster the South Korean and Indonesian currencies.

But correspondents say President Clinton faces a struggle to win support from Congress for any increase in funding to the IMF.

Congress deleted three-point-five billion dollars in additional IMF funding from a foreign aid bill last month.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service