The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed a declaration on Tuesday in which they commit to promote regional economic integration and promote the use of local currencies for financial transactions among its members.
The declaration was signed in the framework of the ASEAN leaders’ summit, which is being held from today until Thursday in Jakarta under the slogan “ASEAN: Epicenter of Growth”, with which Indonesia has tried to divert attention from the conflicts towards the economic prosperity of the region, one of the fastest growing in the world.
According to the text, these They undertake to promote transactions between their members in local currencies and to lower the costs of cross-border payments, with the aim of “strengthening regional financial stability”.
ASEAN was founded in 1967 and is made up of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei and Myanmar, and does not have a common currency.
At the end of March, during the meeting of ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors, it was agreed to reinforce the use of local currencies and reduce dependence on major international currencies for cross-border trade and investment.
Indonesia, for its part, has created a team to promote the use of its local currency, the rupiah, in transactions with some partner countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and China, with agreements underway with Singapore and South Korea. .
For her part, the director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, present at the Jakarta summit, warned that the countries of Southeast Asia have suffered the economic effects of the pandemic above the world average and have grown in In the last three years, half of what was expected before the outbreak of covid-19.
Georgieva assured that, due to the high integration of their economies, the countries in this area are suffering from “disruptions in supply chains and low external demand.”
“ASEAN needs even stronger growth to fully recover and continue on its pre-pandemic path to prosperity,” he added.
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