Top finance officials of a block of nations and regions in east and southeast Asia signed the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) to address the short-term currency liquidity, China's central bank said on its website on Monday.

The agreement was signed by the finance ministers and central bank governors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3), as well as the Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief.

The signatory nations and regions reached in May the agreement on all main components of a 120-billion-US dollar regional reserve pool to provide emergency liquidity for countries and regions in financial crisis.

The core target of the pact was "to address balance of payment and short-term liquidity difficulties in the region and to supplement the existing international financial arrangements", the central bank said in the statement.

China and Japan will contribute US$38.4 billion each to the liquidity pool and the Republic of Korea will offer US$19.2 billion. The 10 ASEAN nations will provide a combined US$24 billion.

The ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.