off-the-wire

China commits to investing nearly $39 bln in Malaysia - PM Anwar

Kitco Media
By Reuters
Published:
Updated:
Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 (Reuters) - China will invest an estimated 170.07 billion ringgit ($38.64 billion) in Malaysia, including in the petrochemical and automotive industries, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday. Rongsheng Petrochemical Co Ltd will invest an estimated 80 billion ringgit in a petrochemical refinery in southern Malaysia, Anwar said in parliament.


Automaker Geely will invest 2 billion ringgit initially and later ramp that up to 32 billion ringgit, he said.


Anwar, who was on an official visit to China last week, did not give a time frame for the total investment commitments.


The premier also said he discussed with China reducing Asia's dependency on the U.S. dollar.


Malaysia's central bank is working on an initiative to allow Kuala Lumpur and China to conduct trade using the ringgit and renminbi, he said.


"There is no reason for a country like Malaysia to continue to depend on the U.S. dollar," Anwar said.


Anwar said he proposed setting up an 'Asian Monetary Fund' at the Boao Forum in China last week, and in a bilateral meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed the idea to be discussed further.


($1 = 4.4015 ringgit) (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Mei Mei Chu; writing by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)

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