But poor ones cannot afford the luxury of misguided deficits. In poor countries, people don't save because they can't afford to. The high savings rates of Asia are the fruits of governments spending less than their income, giving them a surplus to invest in telephone systems, water supply and roads. If Asian governments start to run big deficits just as tax revenues fall with economic growth, national savings rates would tumble. That would make stabilization even more difficult.
Asian countries have rudimentary markets for bonds and other fixed-income securities.
So, if a government runs a deficit, it has to tap the central bank for finance. That turns the deficit into money, and the money turns into inflation. That will make the poor poorer and inspire the rich to move their money out. There are no soft options for Asia-only the hard one of cutting domestic consumption and investment so that exports rise and imports shrink. The IMF has it right.