--IMF Koehler: euro to take "appropriate place" among major currencies
--IMF Koehler sees some impact of US slowdown on Asian economies
--IMF Koehler sees no Asian crisis like 1998 on back of US slowdown
By Michael Gulyaev, BridgeNews
Hong Kong--Jan. 11--International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director Horst Koehler said Thursday that the long-awaited turnaround for the euro is "already underway" and that the European currency will now take its "appropriate place" among the major currencies of the world. Koehler was speaking to journalists before a meeting with Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.
* * * Asked if he saw a turnaround for the euro, Koehler said it is "already underway and (the euro) will come back to its appropriate place among the major currencies."
Koehler said that the anticipated slowdown of the U.S. economy this year would have "some impact" on Asia, though he said it would not be anything like the severe Asian financial crisis that occurred in 1998. In 1997 and 1998, Asian economies suffered during a long financial crisis that spread throughout the region after the sharp fall of the Thai baht in early 1997.