Asian business executives against RI's CBS plan: Poll
Asian business executives against RI's CBS plan: Poll
HONG KONG (Agencies): Asian business executives have given the thumbs down to a currency board system as a means of salvaging the embattled Indonesian rupiah, according to poll findings released yesterday.
The Far Eastern Economic Review and CNBC Asia Business News poll found that 83 percent of executives surveyed did not believe a currency board system would rescue the rupiah, they said in news release.
Of those polled in Hong Kong, which has a currency board system, 89 percent agreed with that position, the release said.
Asked whether the currency board system would be good for their countries, 72 percent said it would not, while 89 percent in Hong Kong took the opposing view.
On the International Monetary Fund's position that the currency board would weaken the yen, 75 percent agreed with the IMF, while 71 percent of Indonesians disagreed.
Indonesia's President Soeharto has said he is considering pegging the rupiah to the dollar, a measure opposed by the IMF, United States and other donors.
Asked whether, as Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has proposed, that intra-ASEAN trade be denominated in Singapore dollars, 75 percent of executives polled in the region said "no," with the least enthusiasm coming from Australia with 88 percent, while Thailand was the most enthusiastic with 50 percent.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Asian Executives Poll is a weekly fax poll conducted among chairmen, managing directors and top corporate executives in 10 Asian countries.
The release did not give figures for the number of respondents.
EU criticism
A special representative of the European Union said in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that a currency board in Indonesia would be at odds with the country's IMF program to rescue its economy.
"I would see the currency board as not compatible with the IMF program at the moment and may not be at the medium term," Derek Fatchett, who is also British Junior Foreign Office Minister, told a news conference in the Malaysian capital.
Jim Cloos, chef de cabinet to European Commission president Jacques Santer who was accompanying Fatchett, said the Group of Seven industrialized nations were firmly of the view that the conditions in Indonesia were not right for a currency board.
Fatchett, who was on a four-nation tour of Southeast Asia as a personal emissary of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and special representative of the EU presidency, said Indonesian President Soeharto had indicated that he would not introduce a currency board without the IMF's consent.
Fatchett said the EU was keen to see stability return to Asian markets.
During his regional tour, he said he will explore the establishment of a trust fund to support financial service reforms in Asia and study the social impact of recent financial turmoil. He has visited Thailand and will go to Jakarta and Singapore from Kuala Lumpur.
Britain warns
A special envoy of British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday that Indonesian plans to adopt a currency board risked having an adverse impact on other countries in Asia.
"The currency board is not compatible to the IMF programs at the moment and may not be in the medium term," Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Derek Fatchett told a briefing for foreign media.
Fatchett said a currency board "cannot be seen as a substitute to the IMF program" which should be given priority in Indonesia.
"Our concern is the extent to which the IMF is not followed," he said. "To stand outside the program runs risks, not only for Indonesia but our fear is that it will have an impact to others in Asia."