Asian Macroeconomic Surveillance Body Upgraded

Tokyo, Feb. 9 (Jiji Press)--Japan, China, South Korea and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations formed an international organization on Tuesday to discuss and recommend policies designed to ensure regional financial stability. The status of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office, known as AMRO, was upgraded to an international organization from an institution in Singapore on Tuesday, when a treaty on the change went into force. AMRO is supposed to play a role similar to that performed by the International Monetary Fund. For example, it will issue recommendations for mutual supply of foreign currencies among the 13 member countries during a financial crisis. Japan leads the management of AMRO. Yoichi Nemoto, a former Japanese Finance Ministry official, serves as director of AMRO. AMRO was set up in 2011 in response to the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s as a macroeconomic surveillance body that monitors and analyzes regional economic and financial conditions. END