S'pore and RP to sign money pact

S'pore and RP to sign money pact

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Singapore and the Philippines will sign a
currency repurchase agreement on Monday as part of efforts to
maintain stability in their foreign exchange markets, the
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said.

The agreement, to be signed in Singapore, will be the city-
state's third such pact, an MAS spokesman told Reuters Wednesday.

The MAS, Singapore's de facto central bank, signed similar
accords with Indonesia and Thailand last year, the spokesman
said. He declined to provide further details about the latest
agreement.

Manila's Central Bank Governor, Gabriel Singson, said last
week the Philippines would be signing dollar repurchase
agreements with Indonesia and Singapore.

The Philippines has already entered similar accords with the
central monetary authorities of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand.

The agreements increase the ability of central banks to
intervene in foreign exchange markets by giving them additional
sources of liquidity to draw on to curb speculative attacks on
their own currencies.

Singapore's Finance Minister Richard Hu told The Straits Times
in an interview published on Tuesday that recent agreements among
southeast Asian central banks would send a useful signal to the
market.

Hu said the agreements would show the widening pool of credit
available to maintain currency stability in the region.

Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand signed
a repurchase agreement last November, allowing them to borrow
U.S. Treasury securities from each other as collateral for funds
to fight speculative moves against their currencies.