CMIM Will Benefit M'sia's Economy Directly, Says Second Finance Minister Of Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 (Bernama) -- The Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) will benefit Malaysia's economy directly, says Second Finance Minister of Malaysia Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah. He said the just-concluded 15th Asean+3 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting in Manila saw the agreement inked between Asean+3 countries to enhance CMIM's effectiveness. "It will significantly reduce the likelihood of any economic crisis within any of our neighbouring economies by the timely mitigation of any contagion effects which may negatively affect Malaysia through cross-border trade and investment regional linkages," he said in a statement issued here Thursday. Malaysia, he said, in solidarity with other countries in the Asean+3 region, was contributing to the important initiative to ensure continued economic and financial stability for the country and the Asean region. "Malaysia's US$9.1 billion contribution is testament to its economic strength and to the strong capacity of its international reserves," he said. Ahmad Husni said the Asean region has every reason to be proud of today's achievement. "The crisis prevention function is the first of its kind by any regional grouping in the world. This demonstrates the strategic forward thinking by the 13 countries represented in Manila today," he said. He said the crisis prevention function signalled to the international markets that institutional liquidity was available to mitigate any contagion impact of any possible financial or economic crisis eventhough such an occurrence may be extremely remote currently. "Expansion of CMIM's mandate to include crisis prevention function is equally very important to the continued prosperity of the Asean region," he added. -- BERNAMA