This two-volume book takes up the issue of developing a road map of policy options, both at the regional and the country level, for carrying forward the ongoing efforts in monetary and financial cooperation in East Asia. Building on a series of core reports and background papers by eminent economists and policymakers around the world commissioned under an ADB technical assistance project, the book explores what is feasible and desirable in regional monetary and financial cooperation, and lays out a road map for putting the concept into action over the next several years. This book first examines the reasons for the intensified interest in monetary and financial cooperation with in Asia. It then considers the forms that regional cooperation could take in the future in four key areas: (i) information exchange and surveillance systems, (ii) resource coordination, (iii) exchange rate coordination, and (iv) coordination in financial sector reform and development. After extensive analysis of the issues involved in each area, the book lays out recommendations for feasible and desirable forms of enhanced cooperation and actions that could be taken in the short (with in next 2 years), medium (3-5 years), and longer term (over 5 years). |
Since
the 1997 Asian Financial crisis, countries in East Asia have made
efforts to promote regional and monetary financial cooperation to
complement the evolving international financial architecture. This
increased interest in regional monetary and financial cooperation
has resulted in several initiatives – the ASEAN Surveillance
Process, the ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers Process including its Chiang
Mai Initiative of 2000, the Manila Framework Group and the Asia-Europe
Finance Ministers Process to name a few. These developments in some
ways represent a significant break from the past. Going forward
the key challenge is how to set priorities and sequence developments
so as to smooth the path to a new regional financial architecture.
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