Asian emergency funding pool set to double
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Phnom Penh - An emergency fund created to help ensure the liquidity of Asian nations is set to double to 240 billion dollars, officials said Friday.
Speaking at the opening of the 16th Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) finance ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon confirmed that the ministers would "commit to finalizing the expansion of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization, including the doubling of its funding contribution."
The initiative, which sets out a foreign currency reserve pool currently worth 120 billion US dollars, came into force in 2010 between China, Japan, South Korea and the 10-member Asean.
It aims to provide financial support to countries with short-term liquidity needs and acts as a supplement to existing international financing arrangements, according to the Asean secretariat. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen added the funding pool would provide liquidity "particularly during times of crisis."
The Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.//DPA
