Monetary integration in ASEAN+3: A perception survey of opinion leaders

Abstract

Recently, the ASEAN+3 countries have taken a number of measures to bolster monetary integration. These include the establishment of the ASEAN+3 Economic Review and Policy Dialogue and the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM). More recently, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) was also established as an independent surveillance unit. Also, business cycles in the region are starting to become more synchronized. Policymakers have, however, not heeded to calls for introducing a regional monetary unit (RMU) to strengthen regional surveillance and to promote greater exchange rate coordination. Why and what are the practical issues and constraints in introducing the RMU? What actions could be taken in the short and the longer term to promote exchange rate coordination? This paper assesses the views of ASEAN+3 opinion leaders through a perception survey. The opinion leaders feel that RMU, CMIM, and AMRO could go a long way in deepening monetary integration in the region.