KUALA LUMPUR: Any use of foreign currencies by Malaysia for global trade must be closely scrutinised by the government, says Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
The Investment, Trade and Industry Minister said this in response to recent threats by US president-elect Donald Trump, who warned of imposing 100% tariffs on BRICS members if they proceed with a new currency for global trade.
“Malaysia has yet to become a member of BRICS but will continue to closely monitor developments that may affect the country. The use of foreign currencies for trade and commerce needs to be carefully studied by the government.
“Any decision will be made in the best interest of the nation, in line with current policies,” he said in reply to Young Syefura Othman (PH-Bentong) during the Ministers’ Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
BRICS is an inter-governmental organisation comprising nine countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump recently demanded a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the US dollar.
Tengku Zafrul noted that while Malaysia is not a member of BRICS, it is recognised as one of its 13 partners, alongside other Asean nations such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.
He clarified that although the BRICS Summit recently discussed reducing dependence on the US dollar as the global trade currency, no official proposals had been made.
He further emphasised that Malaysia maintains good trade relations with the US, its third-largest trading partner after China and Singapore.
Malaysia is also the 19th largest trading partner of the US.
He pointed out that Malaysia has a trade surplus of RM54.5bil with the US for the first 10 months of the year, driven by a 29.1% increase in trade, which amounted to RM264.3bil.
He stressed that Malaysia adopts an open approach to trade, aiming to strengthen relations with all trading nations.
