ASEAN currency may curb speculation

ASEAN currency may curb speculation

MANILA (DPA): The creation of a single currency for the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will help the
region surmount potential fluctuations in the value of
currencies, a Philippine trade official said.

Assistant Trade Secretary Edsel Custodio said Tuesday that
leaders from the seven-member grouping, who are on their second
year of putting on track a free trade area in the region,
endorsed the single currency plan "in principle" at the fifth
ASEAN summit in Bangkok two weeks ago.

Custodio said events like the Mexican crisis that affected
Asian markets in January and the collapse in February of
Britain's Barings Bank due to losses in futures trading by its
Singapore-based trader highlighted the need for ASEAN monetary
authorities to come together.

"Monetary cooperation, like other forms of cooperation,
becomes more essential as we integrate economically," Custodio
reasoned.

ASEAN officials prefer that currencies of the member-countries
remain as legal tender even after the ASEAN single currency -
which will initially be limited to the use of investors doing
business in the region - has been created, Custodio added.

Regional authorities have also proposed to set up a fund
administered by ASEAN central banks from which countries
suffering currency problems and foreign currency fluctuations
could draw loans from.

ASEAN consists of Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines,
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.