South Korea, Japan and China agreed yesterday to launch a US$700 million regional credit fund in a bid to help develop Asia’s bond markets, Seoul’s finance ministry said in a statement.
Finance ministers from the three countries agreed on the fund during a meeting on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the ministry said.
Called the Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility, the fund will provide “the core infrastructure for the development of bond markets in Asia,” it said.
Japan and China will each contribute US$200 million to the fund, while South Korea will offer US$100 million, it said.
The balance will be made up by the ADB and ASEAN, which will donate US$130 million and US$70 million respectively.
Finance ministers Yoon Jeung-hyun of South Korea, Xie Xuren (謝旭人) of China and Naoto Kan of Japan agreed at the meeting to continue their “effective” policy coordination for other international economic forums, the statement said.
In March, the three countries and ASEAN launched a US$120 bilion currency-swap agreement aimed at helping Asian economies better cope with a possible liquidity crisis.
The then Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization gave South Korea, China, Japan and the 10-member ASEAN a safety net against future liquidity shortages.
That agreement allowed each member to swap local currency for dollars for an amount in proportion to its contribution.
Japan and China each provided 32 percent, US$38.4 billion, of the total. South Korea contributed US$19.2 billion, or 16 percent, with the remaining US$24 billion shared between the ASEAN members.
Meanwhile, central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南), left Taipei for Uzbekistan yesterday to attend the 43rd annual meeting of the ADB, which will be held today and tomorrow.
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