Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said on Friday that Japanese economic conditions were broadly positive at the moment despite some turbulence on the stock market. "There are various issues such as stock prices and currencies, but overall it is heading in the right direction," he told a news conference when asked for his views on the economy in the light of recent share price falls. Asked what would be discussed at a meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in South Korea over the weekend, Tanigaki said participants would discuss Asian economies in the context of the global economy. Tanigaki, who is scheduled to attend the meeting plus a meeting of Asian finance ministers in the ASEAN+3 grouping on the sidelines, said he was not sure if measures for currency stability would be discussed.
"I suppose there will be talks on regional integration and overall financial cooperation in Asia," he said. Since the Asian currency crisis in 1997-98, Asian nations have built a network involving some $36.5 billion in foreign currencies that members can borrow from each other. The so-called Chiang-Mai Initiative was aimed at providing countries with emergency funds if there was a run on their currencies. There is talk that member countries may expand that network into a broader multilateral agreement, such as a fund pooling Asian foreign reserves. The countries have also been working on initiatives to bolster regional bond markets in a bid to reduce dependence on U.S. and European markets for debt financing and to secure longer-term funding in the region.///