The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) needs to remain vigilant given the slightly lowered growth outlook of 4.5 per cent in 2023 due to weakening export demand, according to a joint statement of the 10th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM) held in Jakarta recently.

Inflation is expected to remain high in several ASEAN member states due to elevated input prices, increased demand for services and continued currency pressures. This underscores the importance of strengthening ASEAN macroeconomic policy mix to enable members to use all the available tools to ensure the stability of the economies, the statement noted.

On multilateral payment linkages, the meeting noted the ongoing work to facilitate the regional connectivity of ASEAN members with or without instant payment systems (IPS).

Decent progress is being made in the collaboration between the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub (BISIH) and ASEAN members on the Project Nexus multilateral network model, particularly on governance framework, scheme rulebook and functional design. ASEAN members without IPS have been invited to participate as special observers, the statement said.

The meeting agreed to align ASEAN Infrastructure Fund (AIF) financing the ASEAN Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance; strengthen AIF's business processes by involving multiple parties to participate as lead co-financier; and look forward to further studies on AIF recapitalisation contribution and optimisation of AIF’s existing capital, including through innovative financing tools.

The initiative to set up an ASEAN Treasury Forum would drive collective steps to modernise both practices and policies towards a more transparent and accountable public finance management, specifically treasury management, the statement added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

Disclaimer - All News/Articles items are subject to copyright and no article either in full or part may be reproduced in any form without permission from Fibre2Fashion Pvt. Ltd.