According to David Lipton, IMF First Deputy Managing Director, the IMF is seeking to work more closely with Asia to reduce the impact of the global crisis on the region and to help promote stronger growth on a global level. He stated this while addressing participants at Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong on 16th January.
He said that Asia’s economies are getting stronger and showing great promise, in part due to the reforms bravely introduced when Asia faced its own crisis in the 90s. He said that with problems in rest of the world, particularly in Europe, that pose a risk to Asian prosperity, Asia has a stake in seeing Europe work through its problems and even in playing a role in that process.
Two areas he identified where the IMF’s work can support the region’s interests are enhancing economic and financial surveillance for crisis prevention, and strengthening the global financial safety net. This includes tighter surveillance of economic spillovers and macrofinancial linkages as well as new lending tools, such as the precautionary credit line, specifically tailored for crisis bystanders.
Efforts are also being made to better integrate IMF resources with regional reserve pooling arrangements like the Chiang Mai Initiative.