Finance ministers from the 13 Asian countries “are talking about expanding the facility from US$80 lion to $120 billion,” ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said in Jakarta Monday.

The ministers may meet in Bali, Indonesia, before the year ends to talk about the reserves pool, he said.

Asian governments want to avoid having to rely on institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which forced them to adopt harsh economic policies in return for bailouts during the 1997-98 financial crisis.

ASEAN wants the three partners to help ensure the facility is big enough to help with economic and financial pressures, Pitsuwan said Monday.

Among the currencies of the 10 ASEAN members, only the Laotian kip rose against the dollar this year. The Chinese yuan gained 6 .7 percent while the Japanese yen climbed 23 percent.

Endorsement in February

During the Asian financial crisis Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea spent much of their foreign-currency reserves attempting to prop up their exchange rates after investors hammered them.

The three nations were forced to turn to the IMF for more than $100 billion of loans to shore up their finances. In return, the governments had to cut spending, raise interest rates and sell state-owned companies.

Leaders of ASEAN nations may meet in Thailand in February, Mun Patanotai, Thailand’s minister for information, said Monday.

“We hope to endorse it by the summit” in Thailand when the ASEAN leaders meet, Pitsuwan said of the foreign-reserve pool. “From then onwards, it will be implemented.”

Source: Bloomberg