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.