ASEAN currency fund to seek contributors

ASEAN currency fund to seek contributors

MANILA (AFP): A proposed regional fund to bail out troubled
Southeast Asian economies will seek contributors from all over
the world, Philippine President Fidel Ramos said yesterday.

Ramos however insisted that it would be more of a "common
facility" and that it would not compete with existing
multilateral financial institutions such as the International
Monetary Fund (IMF.)

Speaking at his weekly news conference, Ramos, one of the
proponents of the common fund, said "the facility would consist
of resources which we of ASEAN can make available or which other
countries in Asia-Pacific or even around the world can make
available."

"This is not in competition with the IMF, the World Bank or
the ADB (Asian Development Bank) or any other multilateral
institutions which are already there," he added.

But he said "there are no specifics yet. We are just looking
at the concept of it."

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups
Brunei, Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Ramos has discussed with other ASEAN leaders the setting up of
a common fund for ASEAN members to assist those hurt by the
currency crisis and to fund massive infrastructure requirements.

He is expected to raise the issue during the ASEAN informal
summit in Malaysia in December.

There have been concerns that such a common fund might be used
to cover up weaknesses in ASEAN member-economies and would be
used as a substitute to avoid stringent conditions imposed by the
IMF.

Southeast Asian currencies including the Thai baht, the
Indonesian rupiah, the Malaysian ringgit and the Philippine peso
have fallen sharply against the US dollar under a wave of
speculative attacks triggered by the baht's July 2 float.