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Asian Monetary Fund?
By Michael Cebon | December 18, 2008
Apparently the 10 countries of ASEAN are ready to set up an Asian Monetary Fund - an idea which has been floating around since the 1997-8 Asian Financial Crisis. AFP is reporting that an “AMF” worth $120 billion will be set up at a regional meeting in February. The idea for an AMF emerged after it became obvious that the policies imposed by the IMF on Asian borrowers were the main reason for the financial crisis. Civil society has been criticising the IMF & world bank’s so-called “conditionality” policies for a long time, so it’s exciting that this might be the beginning of the end of such destructive policies, at least in Asia.
But Reuters is reporting that Asian countries hit hard by the current financial crisis will have little choice but to continue to seek IMF loans. Reuters thinks that
one reason why more ambitious ideas such as a regional crisis fund to bail out banks or invest in equities proposed by the Philippines and Thailand have come to nothing is a reluctance of richer nations such as Japan to lend money without strong IMF-style safeguards.
I guess we’ll see who’s right come February.
Topics: Global Economics, IMF & World Bank |