The ministers tried to deflect speculation that the fund’s aim was to circumvent the International Monetary Fund (IMF) so countries would not be forced to make unpopular economic reforms, as happened in the late 1990s. Rajat Nag, managing director general of the ADB, denied this was “a substitute for the IMF”.
Happily, this denial lacks all credibility
Thirteen Asian countries have agreed to set up a $120bn (£80.5bn) crisis fund to boost liquidity and overcome the economic crisis.
3rd May, 2009
Finance ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), alongside China, Japan and South Korea, unveiled the deal in Indonesia, where they were attending the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The scheme is known as the Chiang Mai Initiative, or CMIM.
In These New Times 