The Philippine president says Asian finance officials have agreed to put up a standby facility to help countries who may suffer liquidity problems, with the World Bank committing $10 billion.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said today the agreement has been reached in Washington after a meeting of finance officials from the 10-member Association of South-east Asian Nations and their partners from Japan, China and South Korea.
She said the fund will help ASEAN countries with severe liquidity problems as a result of the global financial crisis. Arroyo said the fund can be used to purchase bad assets and recapitalise troubled financial institutions and private companies.