ASEAN regional currencies

ASEAN regional currencies

MANILA (AFP): Intra-ASEAN trade using regional currencies will
start only after the battered units have stabilized against the
U.S. dollar, President Fidel Ramos said yesterday.

Ramos said the mechanics of the scheme were being hammered out
by finance ministers and monetary authorities of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The results of such meetings will be discussed by ASEAN
leaders through consultations "without having to meet in one
place together," he said.

Leaders of ASEAN, comprising Brunei, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam, have agreed to increasingly use regional currencies in
settling trade transactions to reduce reliance on the dollar amid
the regional financial turmoil.

Southeast Asian currencies, especially the Indonesian rupiah,
Thai baht, Malaysian ringgit, and the Philippine peso, have
drastically depreciated against the greenback since the crisis
began in July 1997.