Asia-Pacific ministers to discuss currency crisis

Asia-Pacific ministers to discuss currency crisis

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Asia-Pacific finance ministers plan to discuss steps to make currency trading more transparent and develop prudential and disclosure standards for financial markets during their two-day meeting next week, a senior Malaysian official said Thursday.

Clifford Herbert, secretary-general of the finance ministry, said the meetings of 15 ministers and their deputies would also discuss regional surveillance and financing arrangements, including a specific fund for ASEAN.

In a related development, Clifford said finance ministers from the Group of Fifteen (G-15) developing nations would not attend next week's meeting as announced earlier this month at the end of their annual summit in Malaysia.

Instead, the G-15 ministers will meet "early next year" as next week's schedule clashes with a meeting of Latin American finance ministers.

Members of the G-15 "asked us to consider whether we could defer it," Herbert told a news conference. "We didn't want to clash."

Herbert said finance ministers from Australia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand would attend the two-day meeting from next Monday, along with vice ministers from Brunei, China, Japan, South Korea, Laos, the United States and Vietnam.

Deputy governors from the Reserve Bank of Australia, The People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will also attend, as well as senior officials from central banks of Myanmar, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, another official said.

"These meetings will enhance the credibility of ongoing efforts to restore stability and confidence in the region," Herbert said, referring to the recent collapse of several Asian currencies and tens of billions of dollars in IMF-led bailout facilities for Thailand, Indonesia and possibly South Korea.

Herbert said the meetings, which also include International Monetary Fund managing director Michel Camdessus, would "discuss the current economic situation faced by member countries and exchange views on the causes and extent of the currency crisis and policy responses to restore stability."

Among major issues to be discussed are the importance of "enhancing transparency in currency trading" and the need for "developing prudential and disclosure standards in financial markets," Herbert said.

Also on the agenda are regional initiatives towards establishing a "regional surveillance and financing arrangement," he added.

Camdessus will meanwhile "report on the progress of the IMF study on hedge funds and their role in market dynamics," he said, adding that ASEAN finance ministers would hold bilateral talks with Japan and the United States.

"Japan is expected to brief the meeting on the Japanese economic situation and present their perspectives on efforts to restore stability in the region.

"Similarly, the United States will also present their views on the current situation and the role the United States can play to restore stability."

Europe

Meanwhile, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong was quoted as saying the United States and Japan will lead a move to hold a finance ministers' meeting with European countries on Asia's economic crisis.

The daily Straits Times newspaper yesterday quoted Goh as saying leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum supported Goh's idea U.S. President Bill Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto take the lead on the issue.

The United States recognized the gravity of the Asian situation, Goh said. "So the U.S. is taking the leading role in convening a meeting of finance ministers to study the situation."

Goh was speaking to Singapore reporters on Wednesday in Vancouver, where he attended APEC's annual summit.

The finance ministers' meeting may take place in February next year, the Straits Times quoted a senior Singapore official as saying.

Goh said the U.S. role was very important in dealing with Mexico's currency crisis in 1994, and was also crucial in Asia's current economic crisis.

"The situation in Asia is not just regional because it would affect the world economy over time and in turn, that could also affect the growth of other countries in Europe and also America," the Straits Times quoted Goh as saying.