IMF chief to meet Malaysian leaders on market upheavel

IMF chief to meet Malaysian leaders on market upheavel

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): International Monetary Fund Managing
Director Michel Camdessus will meet Malaysian leaders next week
during a tour of Southeast Asia to discuss upheaval in financial
markets, authorities said yesterday.

Camdessus will be in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 13 and would meet
Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, among other officials, a
spokesman for the Malaysian minister said.

Camdessus' visit would be part of preparations for a meeting
of finance ministers of the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 1 and 2, the spokesman
said. The IMF chief will attend the ASEAN meeting.

Camdessus was expected to brief ASEAN finance ministers on an
IMF study of currency trading regulations, the spokesman said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has led a campaign
for new rules to govern currency speculation, which he has blamed
for a sharp depreciation in the value of the ringgit.

An IMF spokesman said in October the fund had agreed to
examine the role played by hedge funds in the fall of Southeast
Asian currencies.

It was not known whether Camdessus would meet Mahathir while
in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar's spokesman said. Anwar is also finance
minister.

The Group of 15 (G-15) developing nations, concerned over
volatility in financial and capital markets, agreed this week
that their finance ministers would gather in Kuala Lumpur next
month at the same time as the ASEAN finance ministers.

G-15 leaders ordered their finance ministers and central
bankers to draft trading rules that would prevent the kind of
swings in currency values that have shaken Southeast Asian
economies since a financial crisis erupted in Thailand in July.