Western Asset Emerging Markets Floating Rate Fund Inc. ("EFL”) Sets New Rate and Announces Suspension of Managed Distribution Policy

Western Asset Emerging Markets Floating Rate Fund Inc., which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "EFL”, announced today monthly distributions of $0.0500 per share for the months of December 2008, and January and February 2009. The Fund previously had paid a monthly distribution of $0.0650 per share. The Fund also announced the suspension, effective immediately, of the managed distribution policy adopted in August 2007.

The distribution schedule appears below:

The managed distribution policy allowed the Fund to make multiple distributions of long-term capital gains in a given year and permitted the Fund to revise its distribution strategy from one centered predominantly on current net investment income generated by the Fund’s holdings to one that encompassed a combination of net investment income and potential short-term and long-term capital gains.

However, the significant decline in interest rates paid by floating rate securities since the beginning of the year has led to an equally significant decrease in net investment income available from the Fund’s portfolio, and the current global recessionary economic environment no longer supports a distribution strategy that encompasses a combination of net investment income and potential short-term and long-term capital gains. Additionally, Management and the Board determined that it would not be in the best interest of shareholders for distributions to include a return of capital over a sustained period while the Fund is selling at a premium to its net asset value per share. The Fund therefore has determined it is in the best interests of shareholders to suspend the managed distribution policy and focus once again on a distribution strategy centered on current net investment income generated by the Fund’s holdings.

Please note that this press release should not be used for tax reporting purposes and is being provided to announce the amount of the Fund's distributions that have been declared by the Board of Directors. In early 2009 and 2010, after definitive information is available, the Fund will send shareholders a Form 1099-DIV, if applicable, specifying how the distributions paid by the Fund during the respective prior calendar year should be characterized for purposes of reporting the distributions on a shareholder’s tax return (e.g., ordinary income, long-term capital gain or return of capital).

Western Asset Emerging Markets Floating Rate Fund Inc. is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Legg Mason, Inc., serves as the Fund’s investment manager and Western Asset Management Company, an affiliate of the investment manager, serve as the Fund’s sub-adviser.

Contact the Fund at 1-888-777-0102 for additional information, or consult the Fund’s web site at www.leggmason.com/cef.