Capital inflow sustained

Capital inflow sustained

MANILA (Reuter): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects capital inflows into four emerging markets in Southeast Asia to be sustained in the coming years, a working paper released said yesterday.

IMF consultant Linda Koenig said Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines started posting capital account surpluses since the early 1990s after they initiated economic reform programs.

The surpluses helped the economies to stay buoyant during the financial and political turbulence earlier in the decade.

"In view of these countries' continued strong performance, sizable inflows of long-term loans and direct portfolio investments should continue for some time, provided sound macroeconomic policies continue to be pursued," Koenig said in her paper.