IMF's Camdessus heads for SE Asian countries

IMF's Camdessus heads for SE Asian countries

PARIS (Reuters): IMF head Michel Camdessus said on Thursday he was heading on a tour of Southeast Asia, where he would first stop in Indonesia and then hoped to meet whoever would be Thailand's prime minister.

Camdessus told a Paris news conference on Asian issues before starting his trip that he would also visit Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines before returning from Asia at the end of next week.

"I will visit Southeast Asia, not for the first time this year and not for the last time," he said.

One of the main reasons for the trip, he said, was to hold talks with the Indonesian authorities after the International Monetary Fund formally approved its own direct contribution to the $23 billion rescue package for Indonesia.

"I would like to hold talks with the authorities to see how we can take things further from this point," Camdessus said. "I will then go to Thailand, there also to see how things can be taken further" after a similar economic rescue package dating back to August.

"I hope to have the opportunity to meet with the new prime minister and give this program a new sending off," he said.

Thai Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh says he is resigning with effect from Nov. 7 and that his government will act as caretaker until a new one is formed.

Camdessus said he wanted "political clarification" that the economic reform package tied to IMF aid would be implemented and that reforms could be ensured even before a new government was put in place.

Camdessus, a Frenchman, said he would also visit Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines before returning from Asia at the end of next week.

A spokesman for Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Camdessus's visit there on Nov. 13 would help prepare for a meeting on Dec. 1-2 of finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian nations.

The spokesman said in Kuala Lumpur that Camdessus was expected to brief the December ASEAN meeting on a study which the IMF is conducting into currency trading regulations.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has led a campaign since for new rules to govern currency speculation in the wake of recent market turmoil.

But Camdessus made it clear in Paris the study was not in any way intended to lead to a clampdown on speculation.

"You should not expect anything dramatic here (on this)," he said. "One should be sure that you do not avoid crisis by regulations," he said.

"If you tell me that you should have regulations to stop markets falling, then you should have regulations to stop them going up too," he said.

The IMF study was about the question of transparency in national economies and financial disclosure, he said.