Asia Agrees On $120 Billion Currency Pool

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Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Asian nations will form a $120 billion pool of foreign-exchange reserves that can be used by countries to defend their currencies in an expansion of efforts to battle fallout from the global financial crisis.

Finance ministers from Japan, China, South Korea and 10 Southeast Asian nations agreed to the fund at a summit yesterday in Phuket, Thailand. The amount is 50 percent more than was proposed last May, and a broadening of the current arrangement called the Chiang Mai Initiative that allows only bilateral currency swaps. No date was set for completion of the new pool.

A regional currency agreement is vital “in ensuring market confidence in the Asian economies,” Thailand Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij told reporters. “It is one of our highest priorities.” ...