Central bank governors gathering in Singapore for an informal meeting on January 10 said they were pleased that the world economic situation is strengthening and the Asian economy is recovering faster than earlier expected.

General Manager of the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) Andrew Crockett told a press briefing following a one-day informal meeting of central bank governors that the economic outlook is favorable and the projected growths globally are now higher than projections a year ago.

The year 2000 is expected to be a year of acceleration over 1999, he said.

The governors were noting that the economic situation is strengthening and at the same time there is no evidence of acceleration in inflation, he said.

Crockett said the governors came to a conclusion that economic activity is strengthened and monetary policies will have to be framed in the context of general gradual acceleration of economic activity.

In response to a question about the strength of the US stock market, Crockett said there was a discussion about the factors behind the strength of the US stock market and the differential performances of the technology stocks and other stocks, and governors recognized that no body could forecast what the market will do and vigilance had to be maintained in the face of market developments.

At a discussion earlier in the day, Crockett said it was recognized that debt liquidity management is part of financial architecture.

He said one of the problems that contributed to the Asian financial crisis was the fact that capital flow is volatile and countries may be vulnerable to this capital flow, more vulnerable if they have a particular set of liabilities.

Describing the meeting as "serious" and "fairly standard," Crockett said no conclusion was reached at the meeting which was not designed to produce any conclusion.

He also said participants reviewed economic development and market development and there was no discussion specifically on what individual central bank would do.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Reserve Bank of Australia, the People's Bank of China, the European Central Bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Reserve Bank of India, Bank of Indonesia, Bank of Japan, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Central Bank of the Philippines, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, South African Reserve Bank, Bank of Korea, Bank of Sweden, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

BIS, founded in Basle, Switzerland in 1930, acts as a clearing bank for central banks of various countries.