SINGAPORE, Oct 10 - The problems afflicting U.S. and European banks will hurt Singapore and other emerging Asian economies for at least a year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday.

"Asian countries cannot avoid the impact of weakening U.S., European and Japanese economies. We must prepare for a rough ride at least over the next year, and quite possibly longer," Lee said at a meeting of Indian expatriates in Singapore.

"In Singapore, our growth is already slowing, but our financial system is sound, and our economy remains competitive," he added.

Singapore eased monetary policy on Friday for the first time since 2003 after the Southeast Asian economy sank into its first recession in six years and as the meltdown in financial markets threatened to further hit growth.

The city-state's export-dependent economy shrank an annualised and seasonally adjusted 6.3 percent in the July-September quarter, advance government estimates showed, compared with the 1.1 percent growth forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.