Malaysia's PM and Finance Minister Dr Anwar Ibrahim wants to dump the US dollar for the Yuan, proposes an Asian Monetary Fund - Meanwhile, Malaysia's foreign reserves are denominated in US Dollars

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Malaysia's PM and Finance Minister Dr Anwar Ibrahim wants to dump the US dollar  for the Yuan, as part of his proposal for an Asian Monetary Fund .

He has not said anything about the implications his proposal will have for Malaysia's foreign exchange reserves , which are still stated in Ringgit and US Dollars. 

See  Excerpt 

Detailed Disclosure of International Reserves as at end-January 2023

Embargo : Not for publication or broadcast before 1200 on Tuesday, 28 February 2023
28 Feb 2023

In accordance with the IMF SDDS format, the detailed breakdown of international reserves provides forward-looking information on the size, composition and usability of reserves and other foreign currency assets, and the expected and potential future inflows and outflows of foreign exchange of the Federal Government and Bank Negara Malaysia over the next 12-month period.

The detailed breakdown of international reserves based on the SDDS format is shown in Tables I, II, III and IV.

• As shown in Table I, official reserve assets amounted to USD115,164.1 million, while other foreign currency assets amounted to USD4.7 million as at end-January 2023.
• As shown in Table II, for the next 12 months, the pre-determined short-term outflows of foreign currency loans, securities and deposits, which include among others, scheduled repayment of external borrowings by the Government and the maturity of foreign currency Bank Negara Interbank Bills, amounted to USD16,298.1 million. The short forward positions amounted to USD26,543.9 million as at end-January 2023, reflecting the management of ringgit liquidity in the money market. In line with the practice adopted since April 2006, the data excludes projected foreign currency inflows arising from interest income and the drawdown of project loans. Projected foreign currency inflows amount to USD2,277.5 million in the next 12 months.
• As shown in Table III, the only contingent short-term net drain on foreign currency assets are Government guarantees of foreign currency debt due within one year, amounting to USD371.1 million. There are no foreign currency loans with embedded options, no undrawn, unconditional credit lines provided by or to other central banks, international organisations, banks and other financial institutions. Bank Negara Malaysia also does not engage in foreign currency options vis-à-vis ringgit.

Overall, the detailed breakdown of international reserves under the IMF SDDS format indicates that as at end-January 2023, Malaysia’s international reserves remain usable.