DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Japan is ready to offer more than $17 billion of aid over three years to Asian countries to fight the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Saturday.

Addressing delegates at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Aso reiterated Japan's offer to lend up to $100 billion to the International Monetary Fund from its foreign currency reserves and said Tokyo would welcome similar steps from other countries.

"It is imperative to ensure dollar liquidity for small, medium and emerging countries... We welcome oil exporters and countries that have a lot of foreign exchange reserves would join such efforts (on IMF)," Aso said. "We will support Asian countries by mobilising funds... I'm convinced that deepening cooperation within the Asian region would lead to a recovery in the global economy."

Deputy Cabinet Secretary Osamu Sakashita said $17 billion is the minimum amount of development aid that the government would provide to Asian countries. The amount could be extended and the period could well be shorter than three years, Sakashita said.

The Japanese premier also urged the US to reduce its excessive consumption and said other countries should wean themselves from dependence on external demand to fix the global imbalances behind the current crisis.