SEAS finance ministers focus on resilience against global risks

NUSA DUA, Indonesia Talks between Southeast Asian central bank governors and finance ministers entered their final day on Friday, with the leaders focused on strengthening the region's resilience against global risks.

A recent global banking crisis has caused a gathering of finance leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian nations, as well as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the takeover of Credit Suisse.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati of Indonesia, chairing the ASEAN this year, said policymakers should update policies to respond to the fast-changing global dynamics, even though the region was projected by international organisations to book positive growth this year.

She said that we need to remain vigilant and to be prepared for some external challenges that may cause turbulence in our regional economies.

Indonesia's central bank governor Perry Warjiyo called for the forum to increase the use of local currencies for settlements to reduce volatility and exposure to major currencies.

According to the Indonesian deputy central bank governor Dody Budi Waluyo, officials at the meeting in Bali proposed ways to improve the connectivity of region's payment systems, even though the relevant infrastructure in some ASEAN countries is not yet fully developed, Indonesia's deputy central bank governor Dody Budi Waluyo said on Thursday.

He said that they also discussed cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currency.

At a meeting on the sidelines of the event, the central bank governors of Indonesia and the Philippines said that their banking systems were resilient and that stricter regulations were in place to prevent a repeat of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.