Japan to offer $38.4b to Asian forex reserve pool

Japan will contribute 38.4 billion dollars to an Asian emergency currency pool to bolster state finances amid the global economic slump, Finance and Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano said Sunday.
He made the announcement after meeting the finance ministers of China and South Korea on the Indonesian island of Bali, where the Asian Development Bank is holding its annual governors' meeting.
The pool known as the Chiang Mai Initiative aims to create a network of bilateral swap arrangements among the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as well as China, Japan and South Korea, or Asean+3.
Yosano said China would also offer 38.4 billion dollars to the initiative, of which the "basic idea is that Japan, China and Korea cooperate to provide support to Asean nations."
The Asean+3 nations have decided that Asean's 10 member states would contribute 20 percent to the initiative worth 120 billion dollars while Japan, China and South Korea would supply the rest.