BOAO, Hainan, April 21 (Xinhua) --Bert Hofman, Lead Economist of the World Bank Office Beijing, said here Friday that there seems still a long way to go for Asia to launch its monetary integration.

    Hofman said at the press conference for Boao Forum for Asia 2006 that for a number of years many institutions such as the Asian Development Bank have been discussing on monetary integration ever since the Asian financial crisis in the 1990’s.

    “However, there seems to be considerable questions concerning what should go first, whether domestically or internationally,” he said.

    According to Hofman, domestic capital liberalization of Asian countries still did not get enough progress, such as the opening of the capital market and a better integration of the capital market in general.

    The second hindrance is the political aspect of an Asian monetary fund or Asian monetary union, the monetary integration organization for Asia that had been under discussion, he said.

    Considering that there are still many problems in trade and service integration, it is too early to say Asian monetary integration now, he said. Enditem