The multilateral currency swap arrangement is supported by the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea, China and Japan. It draws from a foreign exchange reserves pool worth $120 billion launched in 2010. Contribution of China and Japan to the fund is $38.4 billion each, and South Korea’s is $19.2 billion.
Earlier, Wei Benhua, the first director of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) said he will make efforts to double CMIM foreign exchange reserve fund amounts, raising hopes that finance ministers at the “10 +3″ meeting to be held in Manila in May would reach a final agreement.
South Korea, which will co-chair the meeting, plans to facilitate member countries to reach an agreement, according to Choi Jong-koo, head of the ministry’s global finance bureau, Wednesday.
He also said he is holding talks with high-ranking officials of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for discussion.
The discussion follows the assumption that the current fund size is not enough to contain a possible crisis in Asia given the situation in the eurozone economy.
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