Asean +3 makes progress in financial cooperation

MANILA, Philippines - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) + 3 (Japan, China and South Korea) made further progress in financial cooperation, the Department of Finance (DOF) said during a recent meeting in Yokohama, Japan.

In a statement, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the output achieved during the two-day meeting of the ASEAN + 3 last week would help the region withstand global risks amid the rising trend of protectionism and tightening financial policies.

“We are confident that our efforts and outputs in this meeting will help the region in weathering the current global challenges of policy uncertainties, increased protectionism and sharper than expected financial tightening,” Dominguez said.

The ASEAN + 3 conducted its 20th meeting in Japan under the co-chairmanship of Dominguez and Japan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Taro Aso.

According to Dominguez, the outputs of the meeting include the strengthening of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) as a regional safety net.

“This strengthening comes in two ways: through the revision of the CMIM operational guidelines and our collective efforts in working towards increasing the IMF (International Monetary Fund) de-linked portion from 30 percent to 40 percent,” he said.

The CMIM is a multilateral arrangement among ASEAN + 3 nations aimed at providing financial support through currency swap transactions.

Currently, member countries can acquire 30 percent of their maximum borrowing amount without being subject to the conditions of IMF.

The participating countries have also finalized the ASEAN + 3 Macroeconomic Research Office’s (AMRO) Strategic Direction and Medium-term Implementation Plan, which is aimed at boosting the region’s macroeconomic and financial stability.

“We also encouraged AMRO in enhancing cooperation with other global and regional financial institutions to further increase its institutional capacity,” Dominguez said.

“In addition, I would like to thank China, Japan and Korea for its contributions in the establishment of the trust funds in AMRO, which will support the implementation of AMRO’s technical assistance program,” he said.