KUALA LUMPUR: The use of the ringgit in trade with several countries under the de-dollarisation move has shown some encouraging development, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the use of the Malaysian currency in trade was well-received particularly by China and Asean countries, namely Indonesia and Thailand.
"A total of 25 per cent of the total trade with China uses the ringgit, amounting to RM39.2 billion in ringgit and renminbi from the total of RM157 billion.
"As of August, 16.7 per cent of the total trade with Indonesia uses the ringgit and rupiah amounting to RM10.7 billion.
"With Thailand, 19.6 per cent of the total trade uses ringgit (and baht) amounting to RM8.2 billion.
"It is a good development, although we still have a long way to go as some of the countries have yet to take action on the matter," he said in reply to a question from Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad (BN-Parit Sulong).
Noraini asked about the latest plan regarding the de-dollarisation approach to encourage trade with other countries using the Malaysian ringgit as trade currency and to what extent this initiative is welcomed by other countries in the region.
He said the use of local currencies was one of Malaysia's steps to reduce trade dependency on the United States dollar.
Anwar, however, said Vietnam and Cambodia agreed to use the local currency via the Local Currency Settlement Framework (LCSF) discussed during the recent Asean summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.
To a supplementary question by Noraini on whether the government plans to expand the use of local currency with other Asean countries and Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (Brics countries), Anwar said:
"I believe that the successes within Asean and with China serve as a guide that there are advantages to strengthening local currencies."
Anwar said Singapore, however, has shown no interest in using local currencies.
"In terms of trade, the highest is with Singapore at 15 per cent. However, Singapore as a trade country, and it does not show interest in using local currencies.
"The same goes with Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.
"As for Brics countries, is notable with China, but there have been no efforts to expand it to South Africa," he said.