ID :
24078
Sun, 10/12/2008 - 21:26
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/24078
The shortlink copeid
Japan, S. Korea agree to push for multilateral currency swap scheme+
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 Kyodo -
Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa and his South Korean counterpart
Kang Man Soo agreed Saturday to push for efforts to launch a multilateral
currency swap scheme for Asia, a Japanese official said.
They reached the accord when they met for 30 minutes on the sidelines of a
series of financial meetings taking place in Washington under the aegis of the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Thirteen East Asian nations have been seeking to evolve an existing network of
currency swaps under the Chiang Mai Initiative, a safety net to help the
countries involved fight speculative attacks on their currencies, into one to
be operated multilaterally, rather than bilaterally.
The so-called ''multilateralization'' of the initiative would prevent any
future financial crisis in one country from spreading into a regional one, such
as the one that hit Asia in 1997 and 1998.
Asked about the possibility of Japan supporting South Korea with a bilateral
swap deal under the Chiang Mai Initiative in the near future, the Japanese
official said he does not expect that to happen in view of Seoul's still ample
foreign reserves holdings.
South Korea is facing its biggest capital flight since the Asian crisis, with
the won plummeting to 10-year lows on the country's worsening international
balance of payments.
During the meeting with Nakagawa, Kang was quoted as saying South Korea's
economy is basically sound but adding the current global financial turmoil will
affect the country going forward.
Finance ministers from the ASEAN-plus-three countries agreed in May they will
make a multilateral currency swap deal worth $80 billion, with the proportion
of the contribution between the ASEAN and the three other nations to the scheme
being ''20 versus 80.''
The ASEAN-plus-three framework brings together the 10 members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- plus
Japan, South Korea and China.
==Kyodo
Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa and his South Korean counterpart
Kang Man Soo agreed Saturday to push for efforts to launch a multilateral
currency swap scheme for Asia, a Japanese official said.
They reached the accord when they met for 30 minutes on the sidelines of a
series of financial meetings taking place in Washington under the aegis of the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Thirteen East Asian nations have been seeking to evolve an existing network of
currency swaps under the Chiang Mai Initiative, a safety net to help the
countries involved fight speculative attacks on their currencies, into one to
be operated multilaterally, rather than bilaterally.
The so-called ''multilateralization'' of the initiative would prevent any
future financial crisis in one country from spreading into a regional one, such
as the one that hit Asia in 1997 and 1998.
Asked about the possibility of Japan supporting South Korea with a bilateral
swap deal under the Chiang Mai Initiative in the near future, the Japanese
official said he does not expect that to happen in view of Seoul's still ample
foreign reserves holdings.
South Korea is facing its biggest capital flight since the Asian crisis, with
the won plummeting to 10-year lows on the country's worsening international
balance of payments.
During the meeting with Nakagawa, Kang was quoted as saying South Korea's
economy is basically sound but adding the current global financial turmoil will
affect the country going forward.
Finance ministers from the ASEAN-plus-three countries agreed in May they will
make a multilateral currency swap deal worth $80 billion, with the proportion
of the contribution between the ASEAN and the three other nations to the scheme
being ''20 versus 80.''
The ASEAN-plus-three framework brings together the 10 members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- plus
Japan, South Korea and China.
==Kyodo
