by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang an Sunday, April 11, 1993
Call on Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to present a White Paper in Parliament on April 26 on the RM$9.3 billion foreign exchange losses suffered by Bank Negara last year
The Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, should present a White Paper in Parliament on April 26 on the RM$9.3 billion foreign exchange losses suffered by Bank Negara last year as revealed in the recently-released 1992 Bank Negara Report.
The colossal losses suffered by Bank Negara is equivalent to thrice that of infamous Bumiputra Malaysia Finance scandal a decade ago.
So far, Bank Negara has failed to give a full, adequate , satisfactory and acceptable explanation for the RM$9.3 billion losses suffered by Bank Negara last year, as a result of its various monetary measures against inflation, mopping up excess liquidity and removing the hefty inflow of foreign funds from Malaysia’s financial system. This reflected in the bank’s increase in gold and foreign exchange which rose 58 per cent from RM$29.2 billion at the end of 1991 to RM$45 billion at the end fo 1992, based on currency revaluation and Bank Negara’s accounting changes.
The RM$9.3 billion losses suffered by Bank Negara has raised a very fundamental question about the role and accountability of Bank Negara.
Bank Negara has the statutory duty to monitor and supervise banks, but where the Bank Negara gets directly involved in the money market as a player, who is to monitor and supervise the Bank Negara to ensure that losses like RM$9.3 billion losses suffered by it last year fro its foreign exchange operations should not have occurred?
I have given notice to Parliament that I would be asking the Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, during question time in Dewan Rakyat, which is to meet from April 26 to May 20, the following:
“To ask the Minister of Finance for the cause and detailed breakdown for the RM$9.3 billion foreign exchange loss suffered by Bank Negara in 1992, and to state which agency or authority had supervised Bank Negara’s plunge in its special reserve and contingency funds to RM$752.6 million on Dec.31, 1992 from more than RM$10 billion at the end of 1991?”