Asian central bankers to discuss forex fund

Asian central bankers to discuss forex fund

MANILA (Reuter): Central bankers from several Asia-Pacific nations will discuss the possibility of setting up a foreign exchange stabilization fund in a meeting in Manila starting today, a Philippine Central Bank official said.

The official said the fund had already been discussed at a meeting in Hong Kong in January and during the Asian Development Bank annual meeting in New Zealand earlier this month.

The Manila meeting would give central bank representatives from the six ASEAN countries, along with Taiwan, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Nepal and several Pacific island nations, a chance to discuss how the fund would operate.

Asian foreign exchange trading was rocked earlier this year when Mexico's financial crisis sparked a wave of anxiety over emerging markets.

The stabilization fund would give countries extra resources to use to smooth out sharp fluctuations in their currency markets, the official said.

ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The Pacific nations attending the four-day meeting include Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.