Financial crisis fault lines not in Asia: Singapore minister
Dubai, Oct 8 (PTI) Banks in ASEAN countries are not short of capital as they have a limited exposure to subprime loans and the finance systems are not facing the kind of issues plaguing the West, the Finance Minister of Singapore has said.
"The current crisis will certainly impact value of assets across the board but the fault lines do not lie in Asia," Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday while speaking at the sidelines of the 5th ASEAN Finance Ministers' Investor Seminar here.
Speaking on the occasion, Surin Pitsuvan, Secretary General of ASEAN, said: "When the global weather is gloomy you look for sunshine and that is good news for investors looking at ASEAN countries." Finance ministers of the 10-member ASEAN countries were of the view that the financial crisis that they faced in the 90s have made them wiser in the sense that they have a far more regulated financial services industry.
"The biggest lesson learnt was that we realised how important it was to regulate the markets. Self-governance ceased to exist as the way forward," Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, the Finance Minister of Malaysia said.
This was the first-ever Gulf investor roadshow for the ASEAN bloc which represents a market of 570 million people and highlighted investment opportunities in a region with a collective GDP and total trade of USD 1 trillion. They have held similar events in London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. PTI
Dubai, Oct 8 (PTI) Banks in ASEAN countries are not short of capital as they have a limited exposure to subprime loans and the finance systems are not facing the kind of issues plaguing the West, the Finance Minister of Singapore has said.
"The current crisis will certainly impact value of assets across the board but the fault lines do not lie in Asia," Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday while speaking at the sidelines of the 5th ASEAN Finance Ministers' Investor Seminar here.
Speaking on the occasion, Surin Pitsuvan, Secretary General of ASEAN, said: "When the global weather is gloomy you look for sunshine and that is good news for investors looking at ASEAN countries." Finance ministers of the 10-member ASEAN countries were of the view that the financial crisis that they faced in the 90s have made them wiser in the sense that they have a far more regulated financial services industry.
"The biggest lesson learnt was that we realised how important it was to regulate the markets. Self-governance ceased to exist as the way forward," Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, the Finance Minister of Malaysia said.
This was the first-ever Gulf investor roadshow for the ASEAN bloc which represents a market of 570 million people and highlighted investment opportunities in a region with a collective GDP and total trade of USD 1 trillion. They have held similar events in London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. PTI
