Asian Monetary Fund may be needed to deal with future shocks
Afp, Manila
Asia may need to establish its own monetary fund if it is to cope with future financial shocks similar to that which rocked the region 10 years ago, a regional forum was told here Monday. An Asian Monetary Fund may be essential as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was unable to cope adequately with the Asian crisis when it started in July, 1997, the forum hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was told. "The IMF failed to make precise reforms (while) the US was ill-positioned to take swift action" when the crisis broke, said Duck-Koo Chung, former South Korean commerce minister. "Instead of waiting for a fire department across the world to act, the region needs a voluntary, community fire brigade," he added, warning that "a sense of complacency may bring about another crisis." Chung said the Asian crisis, triggered on July 2, 1997 when Thailand conceded defeat and allowed the baht to float freely, had been the worst faced by his country since the Korean war in the early 1950s. Dorodjatun Kuntjoro Jakti, former minister of economic affairs in Indonesia, said IMF conditions imposed to get Jakarta out of the crisis "created continuous tensions within the body politic of Indonesia," contributing to the downfall of president Suharto in 1998 and leading to years of political turmoil.
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