Asian central banks to meet in July

Asian central banks to meet in July

TOKYO (Reuter): Central bank governors of the 11 member Executive Meeting of East Asia and Pacific Central Banks (EMEAP) group will meet in Tokyo in July, a senior monetary source said yesterday.

It will be the first EMEAP meeting of central bank governors. EMEAP has held informal meetings bi-annually at the executive or deputy central bank official level, he said.

The source declined to comment on a specific agenda for the meeting. He said EMEAP members had in the past exchanged information on their economies and monetary policies. EMEAP was set up through the initiative of the Bank of Japan in 1991.

EMEAP groups Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, China and Hong Kong.

The source said that the meeting is not connected with an idea to create a regional central bank modeled on the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

Last September, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Bernie Fraser said in a speech that greater coordination could be achieved among Asian central banks through the creation of an Asian BIS, which would provide funding facilities for international financial operations.

On the currency cooperation front, central banks of Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, China and the Philippines have already signed a series of bilateral securities repurchase, or repo, agreements.

The repo pact gives participants access to immediate cash to help defend their currencies in times of crisis.

Japan has made it clear that it is not reluctant to enter into a similar repo pact with other Asian central banks. Japan is expected to unveil a repo pact with neighboring Asian nations in the near future, analysts said.