Malaysia's Mahathir Proposes Common East Asia Currency Pegged to Gold

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday mooted the idea of a common trading currency for East Asia that would be pegged to gold, describing the existing currency trading in the region as manipulative, Reuters reports
Mahathir said the proposed common currency could be used to settle imports and exports, but would not be used for domestic transactions.
“In the Far East, if you want to come together, we should start with a common trading currency, not to be used locally but for the purpose of settling of trade,” he said at the Nikkei Future of Asia conference in Tokyo.
“The currency that we propose should be based on gold because gold is much more stable.”
He said under the current foreign exchange system, local currencies were affected by external factors and were manipulated. He did not elaborate on how they were manipulated.
Mahathir has long been a critic of currency trading, and once famously accused billionaire George Soros of betting against Asian currencies.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration said no major trading partner met the criteria required to be placed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of its currency manipulators but named Malaysia among nine countries that required close scrutiny.
In response, Malaysia’s central bank said on Wednesday its intervention in currency markets was limited to managing excessive volatility.
Other materials on this subject
- Gazprom, Turkey Discuss Using TurkStream for Gas Supplies to Europe Earlier, Burmistrova said that Gazprom may consider delivering some of TurkStream’s gas further to Europe, on the condition that the demand for gas in the country continues to decline. Gas purchases...
- China's Economy Will Grow 2% This Year and 7.9% in 2021 "A premature policy exit and excessive tightening could derail the recovery," the World Bank said in its latest economic update on China, released Wednesday. It predicts the world’s second-largest economy...
- World Oil Prices Dropping And the Brent oil futures for February supplies fell by 2.97 percent to $50.71 a barrel.
- Oil Prices Fall as OPEC+ Members Debate 2021 Output Policy "Last week’s optimism is taking a hit this morning and longs are edging towards the exit ahead of the OPEC+ talks," said oil broker PVM’s Tamas Varga, after OPEC+ failed to agree on policy in informal...
- OPEC Sees Steeper Oil Demand Drop as Virus Remains Challenging World oil demand will tumble by 9.46 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a monthly report, more than the 9.06 million bpd decline expected...
-
17:12
Migrant Caravan Demands Biden Administration 'Honors Its Commitments'
-
14:51
5-Day Weather Forecast in Armenia
-
11:35
Some Roads are Closed in Armenia: Stepantsminda-Larsi Highway is Closed
-
11:01
351 COVID-19 New Cases Reported in Armenia
-
10:37
Indonesia’s Quake Death Toll Reaches at Least 56
-
20:13
Armenia Sees Decline in Pastry, Ice Cream Production
-
19:15
Powerful Earthquake in Indonesia Kills at Least 67, Injures Hundreds
-
18:55
Sadyr Japarov Wins 79.23% of Votes in Presidential Election in Kyrgyzstan
-
17:50
Biden Names Ike Hajinazarian as White House Regional Communications Director
-
16:07
5-Day Weather Forecast in Armenia
-
15:00
IRGC Launches Ballistic Missiles
-
13:31
263 COVID-19 New Cases Reported in Armenia Per Day
-
12:00
Azerbaijani Side Hands Over Bodies of Two Dead Armenian Servicemen
-
10:01
Indonesia Quake Kills at Least 42, Injures Hundreds
-
19:20
Turkey Informs About Composition of Turkish-Russian ceasefire Monitoring Center in Karabakh
-
18:34
Putin Discussed the Outcome of the Karabakh Trilateral Summit with Permanent Members of Russia's Security Council
-
15:40
Governor of Shirak Tigran Petrosyan Tenders Resignation
-
14:57
The Armenian Cultural Heritage in the Territories under the Azerbaijani Control is Seriously Endangered: MFA
-
13:11
More than 100 Individuals Arrested for Capitol Hill Riots, Says FBI
-
11:49
North Korea Unveils New Submarine-Launched Missile
day
week
month
-
12:46
Lavrov: No Provocations Against Russian Peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh
-
10:50
Azerbaijan President's Statement Contradicts point 8 of Statement Signed on November 9, 2020: Arman Tatoyan
-
18:57
Artsakh Authorities Find More Bodies of Fallen Troops in Ongoing Search Operations
-
13:51
Artsakh Security Chief: We Could Have Avoided the War
-
16:40
Colorado Identifies First Known Case of UK Coronavirus Variant in US
-
09:05
Armenia to Import 2,250 Goods from Iran Instead of Turkey
-
15:04
Bodies of 1,111 Fallen Armenian Soldiers Retrieved So Far: Artsakh Emergency Service
-
23:23
Let's Believe that 2021 Will Restore Our Lost Dignity
-
17:53
Armenian, Azerbaijani Intelligence Chiefs Discuss PoW Exchange at Moscow-Mediated Meeting
-
11:46
Armenia Ombudsman: What Azerbaijan Military has Done is Step with Clear Intention to Intimidate Civilians
Humidity: 72%
Wind: 7 km/h