00:00With global economic uncertainty and currency volatility on the rise,
00:04is this the right time for ASEAN to seriously consider a single currency?
00:09Proponents argue it could boost regional trade, stability and resilience.
00:14But questions remain if the region is truly ready.
00:17Dr Umar Murthy, lecturer at the Faculty of Business and Law of Taylor's University, weighs in.
00:23I believe it's the right time for the idea of ASEAN single currency because we have witnessed
00:33high volatile global monetary environment. We have a US dollar which is dominant in the market but
00:42it still shows instability during a recent global shock such as like a COVID-19, geopolitical tension
00:51and also inflationary cycle. And according to Malaysia Investment Development Authority,
01:00they have said that ASEAN, which is the regional block with a combined GDP over 3.9 trillion in
01:072023 and we have a population exceeding 680 million, ASEAN has matured economically.
01:16So intra-ASEAN trade now accounts for 22% of total trade that shows significantly deep integration.
01:29And we also have a mechanism like ASEAN Class III Macroeconomy Research Office
01:36and changed my initiative for monetary cooperation. And recently, since 2021,
01:45ASEAN has been exploring cross-border payment system whereby they are using QR code and also digital currency.
01:55As Trump pushes for higher tariffs, Umar believed the move could strengthen the block's bargaining power,
02:00reduce reliance on the US dollar and shield the block from external shocks.
02:06Single currency can bring economy bargaining power. That will be very good for our Asian member
02:13countries. It allows regional to negotiate trade deals more efficiently and reduce reliance on the US dollar.
02:21sector. And as we all know that as Trump wanted to increase a tariff, so this definitely will work
02:31wonderful. Asian economy bargaining power. And whereas if you look at it, China, which is ASEAN's
02:41largest trading partner, which is we can see single currency could help settle more trade supporting
02:49on ongoing de-dollarization trend. And if you look at it in a US perspective,
02:58become ASEAN larger export, I mean to say like 15% of ASEAN export goes to US market. So a single ASEAN currency
03:08can able to bring trade stabilization, minimizing the currency volatility and also we can able to reduce
03:16use some exposure to US monetary policy decision.
Comments