Context- RBI announces SAARC Currency Swap Framework for 2024-2027.
💲Currency Swap Agreement (CSA)💲
➡️ CSA is a contract under which two counterparties agree to exchange two currencies at a set rate and then to re-exchange those currencies at an agreed upon rate at a fixed date in future.
Other Significant CSA of India
✈️ BRICS Contingent Reserve Agreement signed in 2015.
✈️ India-Japan bilateral CSA amounting to $75 billion.
✈️ Others: India-UAE CSA, India-Sri Lanka CSA, etc
About SAARC-
⭐️ Secretariat - Kathmandu (NEPAL)
🚀Established - 1985, through SAARC Charter in Dhaka.
🌍 Membership - Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
➡️ Observer status - 9 Countries. Australia, China, The European Union, Iran, Japan, The republic of Korea, Mauritius, Myanmar and United States of America.
😀 Other key facts on SAARC
💫 Decisions at all levels in SAARC are taken on the basis of unanimity. Bilateral and contentious issues are excluded from its deliberations.
💫 Some key SAARC initiatives:
👍South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement – 2006,
👍SAARC Food Bank – 2007,
👍SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS) – 2010,
👍India launched the South Asia Satellite (GSAT-9) in 2017, etc.
🥳 SAARC has been largely dysfunctional since 2016.
