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How Useful Is an Asian Currency Unit (ACU) Index for Surveillance in East Asia?

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  • Pontines, Victor

    (Asian Development Bank Institute)

Abstract

An Asian Currency Unit (ACU) index is constructed using an alternative procedure which minimizes a basket or portfolio of assets expressed in terms of national currencies. Using this estimated ACU Index and an ACU Deviation Indicator, the main finding of this study based on the current trajectory of East Asian currencies relative to this regional ACU average or benchmark, is that there is a formation of two contrasting groups of countries in the region—one a group of strong currencies and the other a group of weak currencies. We suggest several ways in which the region can capitalize on using this ACU index in the immediate term for surveillance purposes, particularly, for purposes of assessing “over- and undervaluation” of the individual currencies from the regional ACU average and for flagging emerging vulnerabilities in individual economies in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Pontines, Victor, 2013. "How Useful Is an Asian Currency Unit (ACU) Index for Surveillance in East Asia?," ADBI Working Papers 413, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0413
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    Cited by:

    1. Shahriar Kabir & Ruhul Salim, 2016. "Can A Common Currency Induce Intra-Regional Trade? The Southeast Asian Perspective," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 218-234, November.
    2. Victor Pontines & Richard Pomfret, 2014. "Exchange rate policy and regional trade agreements: a case of conflicted interests?," Chapters, in: Richard Baldwin & Masahiro Kawai & Ganeshan Wignaraja (ed.), A World Trade Organization for the 21st Century, chapter 7, pages 157-181, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Selvarajan, Sonia Kumari & Ab-Rahim, Rossazana, 2020. "Financial Integration and Economic Growth: Should Asia Emulate Europe?," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 35(1), pages 191-213.
    4. Masahiro Kawai & Victor Pontines, 2014. "The Renminbi and Exchange Rate Regimes in East Asia," Macroeconomics Working Papers 24218, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    5. Yana Valeryevna Dyomina, 2014. "Balance of Payments of East Asian Countries: Impact of the Coordinated Monetary Policy," Spatial Economics=Prostranstvennaya Ekonomika, Economic Research Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Khabarovsk, Russia), issue 1, pages 138-152.
    6. Pontines, Victor & You, Kefei, 2015. "Asian Currency Unit (ACU), deviation indicators and exchange rate coordination in East Asia: A panel-based convergence approach," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 42-55.
    7. Kawai, Masahiro & Pontines, Victor, 2016. "Is there really a renminbi bloc in Asia?: A modified Frankel–Wei approach," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 72-97.

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    Keywords

    asian currency unit; acu index; amro; acu deviation indicator; beggar-thy-neighbor;
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    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

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