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.