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.