New Delhi, Oct. 21 -- Foreign-exchange intervention offers limited benefits beyond the near term and currencies should be allowed to adjust to global shocks, a top International Monetary Fund official said.

"Countries which allow exchange rates to move have benefited more," Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, said at a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday, responding to a question about Asian currencies. With economies facing a succession of global shocks, exchange rates should be allowed to absorb some of the pressure and act as the "first line of defense," he said, without naming the Reserve Bank of India.

Central banks across Asia are grappling with currency weakness as global shocks drive capita...