Asian finance ministers have agreed to build a regional safety net to help countries withstand currency weakness and avoid a financial meltdown. However, they appear to be making haste slowly when the deepening global recession demands decisive action.
Meeting in Phuket, Thailand, on Feb. 22, ministers and senior officials from the 10 member-states of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as China, Japan and South Korea, confirmed that a currency swap arrangement would be enlarged and extended to $120 billion, from $80 billion, with Northeast Asia supplying 80 percent and ASEAN countries the remaining 20 percent. But details on the contribution of each government remain undecided and the scheme will only be finalized at another meeting later this year in Bali.
It seems odd that 13 Asian states with more than $3.6 trillion in official currency reserves, about half the global total, are taking so long to build defenses against the financial instability contributing to the deepening economic slump.