“Malaysia is aggressively reducing its dependence on the US dollar, and so far we have received a good response,” he recently said.

It signed an agreement with Vietnam at the ASEAN Summit this year, and the two countries have recognised the Local Currency Settlement Framework agreement, said Anwar, who holds the finance portfolio.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had also given the nod for negotiations on the use of local currency for trade matters to be expedited, he said. Vietnam is Malaysia’s 10th biggest trading partner.

But some key trading partners like Singapore have not shown interest in using local currencies for trading, he said.

“I saw no interest (from) Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, (while) India still imposes rupee restrictions abroad except for citizens, so negotiations may take time,” the prime minister was quoted as saying by a news agency.

He believes that ASEAN and China’s success in using local currency can encourage other countries to join in, taking advantage of the solution.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)