Reserves to soar to RM100 billion if not for forex losses, says ex-BNM assistant governor

KUALA LUMPUR: The US$10 billion Malaysia lost in the foreign exchange market in the 1990s could have increased to RM100 billion or more today if it is still kept in the foreign reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

Former BNM Assistant Governor, Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid, in an interview with a local English daily, said the sum was based on a calculation of a compound interest of four per cent annually, over a period of 25 years.

He said BNM had lost RM4 billion in income annually because of the scandal.

“The money would have increased to RM26.66 billion, or more than RM100 billion, if it had been kept in government savings, at a compound interest of four per cent annually.

“But all the money has gone down the drain,” he was quoted saying in the interview published yesterday.

Abdul Murad, who left BNM in 1999, supported the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate the case.

The RCI should not be seen as a political move as it would help the truth prevail, adding that it is not too late to look into the scandal as the matter was kept under wraps back then, Abdul Murad said.

He said the RCI was the best solution to get to the bottom of the scandal and bring closure to it.

Following the expose of the scandal, the government had set up a task force led by former Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan to investigate the matter.

The three-month investigation discovered that total BNN losses were ‘different and higher’ than the RM5.7 billion reported to the Parliament and Cabinet at that time. — Bernama