The Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) may become a reality at the next ASEAN summit in February next year, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.
A decision would be made when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meets at the end of February next year in Thailand, the News Straits Time quoted Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim as saying.
Leaders representing 10-member countries of ASEAN had proposed a start-up placement of 120 billion U.S. dollars in the AMF, Rais said at his ministry on Tuesday.
The preliminary proposal would also include funding from dialogue partners the Republic of Korea, Japan and China, he said.
The AMF was first mooted by Japan in 1997 during the Asian financial crisis, but the idea was "killed" by the U.S. Treasury and the International Fund, the New Straits Time said.
A de facto AMF surfaced in 2005 when the ASEAN Plus Three states agreed to expand their network of bilateral currency swaps, the daily reported.