ASEAN to increase swap fund

ASEAN to increase swap fund

BANGKOK (Dow Jones): The Thai central bank said Thursday that central banks of members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have agreed to increase the size of the fund that has been set up to help member nations with balance of payment problems.

The fund, known as Asean Swap Arrangement, or ASA, was increased to US$1 billion from $200 million, Deputy Central Bank Governor Pakorn Malakul Nelieve that nation members may tap into the fund once it becomes bigger, Pakorn said.

The fund was set up in 1977 by the founding members of Asean - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

Other non-founding members of Asean will make their contributions to the fund on an equal basis and will be entitled to borrow from it, Pakorn added. ASA allows nation members to borrow from the fund twice the size of their contributions for a six-month period only.

The other Asean members are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.