ASEAN to set up new short-term aid facility
ASEAN to set up new short-term aid facility
By Devi M. Asmarani
KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Finance ministers of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed here yesterday to
establish a new short-term facility for members in need of
assistance.
The group also agreed to establish and implement a regional
economic surveillance mechanism soon to prevent a monetary crisis
similar to the one currently affecting the region.
Thailand finance minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda told
journalists the ASEAN finance ministers also agreed to form a
comprehensive package of policies to deal with the problem of the
currency crisis.
"The most important topic of our discussion is to establish a
mutual stabilization structure among ASEAN countries," said
Nimmanahaeminda, also the chairman of the meeting.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Philippines secretary of finance Roberto F. de Ocampo said the
new short-term facility would be a supplement to the
International Monetary Funds (IMF) programs, but would be
independent of the IMF's institutional framework and operational
jurisdiction.
"There have been misunderstandings about the particular
facility during the Manila meeting (after it was proposed last
month)," De Ocampo said.
The facility would supplement the IMF program, if and when an
economy within the region which had entered the IMF program
needed additional funds in a short time, he said.
However, he said it was yet clear where funds for the facility
would come from, until the group's members conduct bilateral
meetings with Japan and other donor countries.
The group agreed yesterday to emphasize preventive efforts to
avoid the emergence of risks that would precipitate a crisis.
Nimmanahaeminda said the regional surveillance system would
include regularly held meetings of ASEAN finance ministers.
"Finance ministers would be in quick touch with each other on
a regular basis. The idea is to create some sort of a comfort
through mutual surveillance," he said.
But he said the group had not decided whether the meeting
would be held quarterly or yearly.
He said the group would meet with the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) to develop criteria and basics to be used as a framework
for discussions for the surveillance system.
The objective was to exchange information among member
countries to discuss development happening in their respective
countries, he said.
He said the system would draw up certain standards to adhere
to, and would detect early changes that resulted from development
in the region.
"We will take it up with the ADB and once we get to the
initial step we can visualize the concept into an operational
one," he said.
The group also touched on the need to continue and extend the
bilateral financing arrangement they had made among themselves
prior to the meeting, he said.
Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore were some of the countries
which had agreed on bilateral financial aid to Indonesia to cope
with the country's financial crisis.
Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Anwar
Ibrahim said yesterday's meeting was the first finance minister
meeting in ASEAN which deliberated bold, open and frank views.
"I think we have actually begun a meaningful conceptualization
of a regional surveillance within ASEAN," he said.
The ASEAN finance ministers' meeting, scheduled to end today
was opened by Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad
yesterday.
The ministers also met yesterday with the managing director of
the IMF, Michel Camdessus, and the World Bank's Senior Vice
President, Joseph E. Stiglitz.