Bank Indonesian and National Bank of Cambodia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Bank of Thailand have signed here an agreement to increase the ceiling of the Asean Swap Arrangement from 1 billion US dollars to 2 billion dollars.

"The facility is a second line of defense to strengthen foreign exchange reserves and it may be used to support the balances of payments of Asean member countries including Indonesia," Antara news agency quoted Bank Indonesia spokesman Rizal Djafaara as saying on Monday.

Finance ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) agreed to increase the facility ceiling at the Asean Financial Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, in April.

Under the program, Asean member countries can seek a short-term loan by swapping domestic currencies for US dollars, Euros or Yens.

The Bank Indonesia governor signed the same agreement with the governor of Bank of Japan on Aug. 31.

Under the agreement, Indonesia can seek a short-term loan from Japan through a swap of rupiahs for US dollars to a maximum amount of 6 billion US dollars.

Source: Xinhua