Governor Veerathai's Statement
Your Excellency, Fellow Governors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Members of the press,
A very good afternoon to you all,
It is my great pleasure to welcome our distinguished
guests to this special event before the year ends. Let me
extend a very warm welcome to Governor Agus and
Governor Muhammad Ibrahim who have both travelled
to Bangkok specifically for this occasion.
The year of 2016, which is coming to the end soon will be
remembered by economists and financial professionals
as a year of the unexpected, beginning from China's
circuit breaker in the very first week of the year, to
negative policy rates, to Brexit and the US elections.
Greater uncertainties now hang over the global
economy. Fortunately, our ASEAN region, with its high
potential, is a bright spot in the world. This is therefore
time for us to navigate today's uncertainties through our
concerted efforts to bring out the potentials of our
ASEAN region.
What we are witnessing here today is a renewal of the
spirit of regional integration by relying more on
collaboration to serve as a key driver for sustainable
growth to benefit all of us.
The MoUs that we are about to sign will provide
flexibilities on foreign exchange regulations for the
settlement of trade and investment in local currencies,
resulting in greater efficiency and convenience for
businesses. Another key merit of this framework is that
businesses will be able to better manage exchange rate
risks. This is because our local currencies are generally
correlated with each other. Also, there will be less
reliance on currencies of advanced countries which last
year account for over 85 percent of Thailand's trade with
Indonesia and Malaysia.
You may recall that earlier this year, Bank Negara
Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand implemented a ringgit-
baht arrangement in March as a pilot project. Since then,
we have seen a noticeably narrower spread between the
ringgit and the baht. Moreover, we have noted an
increasing number of businesses applying this local
currency scheme in their day-to-day business conduct.
Today, I am very delighted that Bank Indonesia is carrying
on this initiative by signing the MoUs with both Bank
Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand. I really hope
that this scheme will continue to expand to other
countries in the region. Ultimately, this would be one
important step closer to having greater regional financial
integration in ASEAN.
On this note, may I invite Governor Agus to say a few
words, and followed by Governor Muhammad Ibrahim.
Thank you.