Manila to sign repo accord

Manila to sign repo accord

MANILA (AFP): The Philippines' central bank is to sign
bilateral repurchase agreements with its counterparts in
Indonesia and Singapore next week, Central Bank of the
Philippines governor Gabriel Singson said yesterday.

A repurchase agreement allows a central bank to raise money by
selling securities on the understanding that it will buy them
back within a certain period at a set price.

The central bank here signed similar agreements with Hong Kong
in December and with Malaysia and Thailand in January to defend
the Philippines' peso from speculative attacks following the
Mexican currency crisis.

The Philippines' peso has dropped against the dollar in the
past week as foreign fund managers liquidated their assets due to
the Taiwan Strait tensions.

The government's primary interest "is to have a stable
exchange rate," Singson said.