TOKYO -- Asian countries are looking to do more to prevent another currency crisis by expanding a multilateral swap arrangement that they can tap at short notice by $24 billion sometime this year.
Japan, China, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, collectively known as the ASEAN+3, will discuss the expansion of the Chiang Mai Initiative, an emergency dollar liquidity facility created after the 1997 Asian currency crisis. The annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank and a meeting of ASEAN+3 finance ministers, both of which are to be held in Yokohama in May, likely will provide an opportunity for such discussions.
