Such a fund, it was argued, would provide sufficient liquidity to forestall speculative attacks on regional currencies.

CNN: This monetary body would limit Crisis spillover effects

While letting interest rates rise to defend the peg, it has also appeared keen to bring them down again swiftly after speculative attacks.

ECONOMIST: The Hong Kong dollar: Off the peg? | The

The Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti warns today that without a major agreement at next week's summit "there would be progressively speculative attacks on individual countries, with harassment of the weaker countries".

BBC: Europe: Condition acute for eurozone

While speculative attacks against Southeast Asian currencies revealed feet of clay, Hong Kong can point to a chunky budget surplus, rising corporate profits and a growing economy, not to mention formidable exchange-rate defenses.

CNN: The Cost of a Pegged Dollar

The Polish zloty has been tumbling on the foreign-exchange markets, losing 5% against the dollar in a day and raising fears that it could suffer the same speculative attacks as the Czech koruna suffered earlier in the year.

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