A Malaysian newspaper reported on Tuesday that Malaysia negotiated the arrangement on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit that took place from September 4-7 in Jakarta.
"China welcomed the suggestion. Approximately 20 to 28 per cent of big-scale investments — billions of ringgit in investments — they are not using dollars but using ringgit," the newspaper quoted the minister as saying, who added that "So far we have succeeded in using local currency in Indonesia, Thailand and China."
The wider use of ringgit helps to avert the currency's depreciation — an aspect that was underlined by Ibrahim.
The minister acknowledged however that the value of the national currency had decreased by 6.5% compared to the US dollar this year, the report said. The ringgit traded 4.73 for 1 US dollar at 12:00 GMT.