SINGAPORE, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has ruled out the possibility of a repeat of the Asian financial crisis despite concerns over capital flight as the United States ends its expansionary monetary policy.

Speaking at a dialogue session with business leaders on late Tuesday, Lee said the Asian economies are much stronger than they were in the late 1990s, with safeguards put in place to deal with the impact of large capital flows, he said.

"On balance I would take a sanguine view," he said in reply to a question from moderator Robin Hu, chief executive of the South China Morning Post Group.

However, certain individual countries may have problems, he added.