Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has ruled out the possibility of a repeat of the Asian financial crisis despite concerns over capital flight as the United States ends its expansionary monetary policy.
Speaking at a dialogue session with business leaders on late Tuesday, Lee said the Asian economies are much stronger than they were in the late 1990s, with safeguards put in place to deal with the impact of large capital flows, he said.
"On balance I would take a sanguine view," he said in reply to a question from moderator Robin Hu, chief executive of the South China Morning Post Group.
However, certain individual countries may have problems, he added.
"On balance I would say we are in a safe position," he said, quoted by local media Wednesday. "I don't see this being a new global crisis or regional crisis."
He cited the Chiang Mai Initiative, a regional currency swap arrangement to help the economies in the region to strengthen their balance sheets and support their currencies in times of need, as an example of the safeguards.
"For ASEAN, the lesson is there is a lot of benefit from economic integration, but we must not put the cart before the horse. Let's work together, but do it in a way that respects the differences in our countries and also recognizes that we are 10 different countries.
"We are ASEAN: it is a regional association, not a union, and that makes all the difference," he said.
Source: Xinhua
