Deputy finance ministers of APEC discuss exchange rate
Deputy finance ministers of APEC discuss exchange rate
JAKARTA (JP): The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
deputy finance ministers discussed the effects of excessive
exchange rate movement on trade and investment in the region
yesterday in preparation for next month's conference of finance
ministers.
The deputy ministers also discussed problems associated with
the movement of short term capital between APEC's member
economies and domestic resource mobilization of finance
infrastructure.
Jusuf Anwar, the secretary general of Indonesia's Ministry of
Finance, explained that all the topics will be further discussed
in the meeting of APEC finance ministers, scheduled to be held in
Bali on April 15 and April 16.
President Soeharto is expected to open the two-day Bali
conference.
"All the topics discussed here are 'topics of the day' in the
world's finance sector," Jusuf told journalists.
Yesterday's meeting, attended by 59 delegates from APEC's 18
member economies and a number of observers, also formulated the
agenda for next month's meeting.
Jusuf noted that the topic of exchange rates, first proposed
by Indonesia during last November's APEC ministerial meeting in
Jakarta, was brought up at APEC's senior official meeting in
Fukuoka last month. "It was decided in Fukuoka to discuss the
exchange rate topic in a professional manner," Jusuf said.
Meanwhile, Dahlan Sutalaksana, an expert advisor to the
minister of finance, said that discussions on problems associated
with the movement of short term capital among the forum's member
economies are important especially to avoid rushes on strong
currencies in some member economies.
Jusuf said that Indonesia will recommend ways of improving
cooperation among member economies to monitor world monetary
developments.
He hinted that the meeting sounded out possibilities of
expanding domestic resource mobilization to finance
infrastructure development, through, for example, domestic
capital markets.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand
and the United States. (rid)