Filtered By: Money
Money

Asean+3 to establish $120-B crisis fund in May


MANILA, Philippines - The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) group along with its partners Japan, China, and Korea (ASEAN+3) will establish the $120-billion pool of currency swaps that will aid member-nations that might experience liquidity problems. "If all these things will happen, we can have a launch by the time we meet in Bangkok or Bali in May where ASEAN+3 ministers will meet for the annual ADB conference," Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said. “The key consideration is the contribution coming from plus three. The allocation is 80 percent will come form them. Hopefully, we can have this done in our meeting in Bangkok," he told reporters. Meeting of the countries’ deputy ministers will be held in April 7 to 8 followed by the finance ministers meeting and summit leaders meeting on April 10 to 11, Rosalia V. de Leon, officer-in-charge of the Finance department’s international finance group, said. The meeting will help decide how much China, Korea, and Japan will contribute individually in the $120 billion fund. Taken together, the three nations’ contributions are expected to reach $96 billion. "Other remaining issues are on the surveillance mechanism that will be put in place. There will be some discussion on decision-making process," she added. Last month, the ASEAN+3 agreed to increase the $84-billion ASEAN bilateral swap arrangement under the Chiang Mai initiative to $120 billion. Officials also agreed to transform it into a multilateral facility to address short-term liquidity problems resulting from the global financial turmoil. In October, Teves attended a meeting with ASEAN ministers and development partners on a proposed regional contingency plan called the ASEAN Preparedness Plan to prepare for the worst impact of the global financial turmoil on the region. - GMANews.TV
LOADING CONTENT