Asean+3 Aims For US$80 Billion Currency Swap Deal
TOKYO, April 26 (Bernama) -- The 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea will aim for a
multilateral currency swap deal under which they will provide up to
around US$80 billion to help avert a financial crisis, a senior
Japanese Finance Ministry official said Friday.
Finance ministers from the ASEAN-plus-three nations are set to discuss
upgrading the regional cooperation scheme, known as the Chiang Mai
Initiative, during their May 4 meeting in Madrid, the official told
re****ters on condition of anonymity, Kyodo News re****ts.
The 13 Asian nations reached a basic accord in May last year in Kyoto
on converting the current network of bilateral currency swaps launched
in 2000 into a multilateral framework, to better protect the fast-
growing Asian economy from possible currency upheavals.
They then agreed to set up the multilateral scheme by pooling funds
from their foreign exchange reserves.
Under the existing bilateral framework, up to US$58 billion in total
can be diverted to any of the 13 countries whose currency is hit by
speculative attacks.
The Asian economies plan to boost the amount to around $80 billion in
the multilateral swap deal, the official said.
The 13 nations are expected to talk about the need to strengthen
surveillance of regional economies and to set detailed conditions for
receiving financial sup****t to make the Chiang Mai Initiative work
effectively, he said.
The currency cooperation initiative was introduced in response to the
1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.
Under the framework, central banks from participating countries are
allowed to swap foreign exchange reserves to fight speculative attacks
on their currencies.
In the Madrid meeting, the 13 economies will also exchange views on
recent regional economic conditions amid a global credit crisis linked
to the U. S. subprime woes and growing inflation fears, the official
said.
He expressed hope that financial supervisory bodies, finance
ministries and central banks of Asian economies will better
communicate with each other to brace for turmoil.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singa****e, Thailand and Vietnam.
The 13 nations will gather in the Spanish capital ahead of a two-day
annual meeting of the Manila-based Asian Development Bank from May 5.
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