G7 asked to set pace for reforms in Asia-Pacific talks
G7 asked to set pace for reforms in Asia-Pacific talks
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Senior Asia-Pacific central bank and finance officials held talks Saturday on adopting reforms to eject their economies out of crisis with a call to the G-7 to keep its promise of regulating global finance.
The two-day meeting of finance and central bank deputies was under the auspices of the so-called Manila Framework -- a regional surveillance group formed in the Philippine capital four months after the crisis broke out in July 1997.
"The first day discussions centered around reforms being implemented in economies reeling from the crisis and recent stabilization of financial markets, which is giving us a much- needed breather," a Southeast Asian central bank official said.
The International Monetary Fund tabled several papers on the global economic situation at the talks. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) focused on the regional environment, the official said.
Japan, whose giant economy must be hauled out of recession for the region as a whole to recover, also briefed the meeting on key banking reforms it wants to undertake.
Malaysia's second finance minister Mustapa Mohamad, in opening remarks at the talks, said recent optimism about the crisis being contained and the imminent recovery of Asia should not dampen the Group of Seven industrialized nations' commitment to reform.
"At the same time, we urge that the design of new principles, rules and guidelines be not confined to G-7 countries only," Mustapa said.
He also said Asia's views should not be ignored in the global attempt to develop the so-called new global financial architecture.
"We note that some of the Asian views have not been well received in the past," Mustapa said.
"However as Asian governments are still in the midst of living through the crisis they have received many invaluable lessons that would be useful inputs for the new international financial framework."
G-7 leaders last week called for changes in the global financial structure and for more transparency on the part of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States pledged tighter regulation of international capital markets and a new IMF rescue fund and a short-term line of credit for countries that are not in crisis but are threatened by devaluation and economic weakness.
These initiatives -- along with recent interest rate cuts in developed economies -- would help boost liquidity and consumer spending, indirectly buoying export-led Asian economies reeling from the regional crisis, analysts say.
Asia's financial crisis was sparked off by the de facto devaluation of the Thai baht in July 1997, which led to the rapid depreciation of other currencies in the region, a stock meltdown, depressed real estate prices and overall economic recession.
The Manila framework is aimed at putting in place a regional monitoring mechanism to complement the IMF's global supervision, with a cooperative financing arrangement with the Washington- based Fund.
After the grouping's formation in Manila, officials met for a second time in Tokyo in March followed by an ad-hoc meeting in June centered around Japan's crisis and the plunging yen.
The Kuala Lumpur meeting is attended by Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States together with top officials from the IMF, the World Bank and the ADB.
The meeting comes ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit on 17-18 November.
APEC finance deputies ended their own meeting here on Friday to provide talking points for their leaders.