Southeast Asian finance leaders discuss containing global risks (updated)
31/03/2023 07:58
(Adds quotes)
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, March 31 (Reuters) - Talks between
Southeast Asian central bank governors and finance ministers
entered their final day on Friday, with the leaders focused on
strengthening the region's resilience against global risks.
The gathering of finance leaders from the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) comes amid a backdrop of recent
global banking turmoil after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
and the bailout and takeover of Credit Suisse.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati of Indonesia,
which is chairing ASEAN this year, said that even though the
region was projected by international organisations to book
positive growth this year, policymakers should regularly update
policies to respond to fast-changing global dynamics.
"We all need to remain vigilant and to be prepared for
some external challenges that may cause turbulence in our
regional economies," she said.
Indonesia's central bank governor Perry Warjiyo called on
the forum to boost the use of local currencies for settlements
to reduce volatility and exposure to major currencies.
Officials at the meeting in Bali also proposed discussing
ways to improve the connectivity of region's payment systems,
even though the relevant infrastructure in some ASEAN countries
was not yet fully developed, Indonesia's deputy central bank
governor Dody Budi Waluyo said on Thursday.
They also discussed cryptocurrencies and central bank
digital currencies, he added.
At a meeting on the sidelines of the event, the central bank
governors of Indonesia and the Philippines said their banking
systems were resilient and that stricter regulations were in
place to prevent a repeat of the Asian financial crisis in the
late 1990s.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman; additional reporting by Ananda
Teresia in Jakarta
Editing by Ed Davies, Kanupriya Kapoor)
((Stefanno.Sulaiman@thomsonreuters.com;))