Asian Monetary Fund

The Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) was initially proposed by the Japanese government during the 1997 Asian financial crisis at the G7-IMF meetings in Hong Kong during September 20–25, 1997. It was aimed towards securing a regional network funded by Asian countries to overcome current and future economic crisis. During the Asian financial crisis, Asian leaders experienced the incompetence of both regional and international institutions such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and particularly the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Countries such as Indonesia, Republic of Korea, and Thailand had to turn to bailouts from the IMF. However, the strict conditions of the IMF bailouts evoked discontent among Asian countries. This discontent was largely because Asian nations had little leverage on IMF crisis resolution measures despite the IMF being an international organisation. Another source of discontent was due to the financial volatility concerning the US dollar. More specifically it owed to the fixed exchange-rate system that Asian governments adopted throughout the 1990s, in which currency was pegged to the US dollar at rates incompatible with domestic economies. The initial proposal of the AMF stirred conflict between Japanese authorities and the United States.