FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told the International Monetary Fund the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is moving closer to the creation of a common market for a region considered as one of the major growth drivers in the world.
Dominguez, during the IMF managing directors’ roundtable meeting with Asean finance ministers and central governors in Washington D.C., reported the accomplishments of the Philippines and other member-states of the bloc in step with their financial inclusion agenda.
Dominguez also relayed to the IMF the concerns of the Asean finance ministers over the prospect of more developed countries adopting inward-looking policies and the possibility of “sharper-than-expected” financial tightening in the export-oriented region amid the normalization of US policy rates.