Malaysia, India agree to bolster national currencies usage

Malaysia's Prime Minister (PM) Anwar Ibrahim said during his official visit to India from August 19-21 that he supports the idea of more Malaysia-India trade exchange using national currencies, reported Bernama news agency.

Accordingly, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has agreed to expand the usage of the INR and MYR to grow bilateral trade.

Speaking during a question and answer session after he delivered the lecture titled “Towards a Rising Global South: Leveraging on Malaysia- India Ties” at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) in New Delhi, the PM affirmed that this approach is similar to the successful use of the MYR in trade transactions between Malaysia and countries like China, Thailand, and Indonesia.

The PM suggested that more countries should use national currencies in trade rather than depending on an “obsolete” monetary system driven by the U.S.

Earlier, in his remarks at a joint press conference with Anwar, Indian Prime Minister Modi noted that India-Malaysia trade is making steady progress and transactions can now be settled in INR and MYR.

The India-Malaysia joint statement said the two PMs, in their talks, appreciated the collaboration between the Reserve Bank of India and BNM to promote usage of local currency settlement in bilateral trade and investments, and encouraged industries on both sides to further facilitate the invoicing and settlement of trade in local currencies.

Total trade between Malaysia and India stands at $16.5 billion, bolstered by an impressive compounded annual growth rate of 8.5% in the last two decades.