Economic forum

The White House announced that it will sponsor a worldwide economic forum wherein the main agenda will be the current financial crisis. It will be held in November this year and by that time America has already elected either Barack Obama or John McCain. President George W. Bush, who is serving his last few weeks in office, is expected to preside the forum that will be participated by other 19 nations.

What is not certain, though, is whether the president-elect will join the forum. The new chief executive, who will officially assume office by January next year is faced with the gargantuan task of turning the economy around. Should he make it to the forum, representatives from other attending nations will surely be interested to work with the new president-elect because it is widely believed that America’s ability of respond to the crisis is the key to avert what seemingly now a global economic meltdown.

Thailand is reviving the idea of creating a pan-ASEAN fund that aims to help member nations should a systemic financial crisis hit again. After the 1997 crisis, there was a plan to create a fund among ASEAN economies which would pool a significant amount of foreign reserves. However, this never materialized as the situation eventually improved.

There has been a lack of urgency among ASEAN economies, the Philippines included, in making a concerted effort in tackling this crisis, unlike what the Europeans are currently doing. We are expected to know better because of our bitter experience 11 years ago but, ironically, what we are seeing are isolated calls for cooperation and individual action by the region’s central banks.