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.