Statement of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Bank Negara Malaysia

As trusted partners, the United States Department of the Treasury ("Treasury") and Bank Negara Malaysia ("BNM") agreed to continue their close consultations on macroeconomic and foreign exchange matters. The United States and Malaysia reaffirmed that they have undertaken under the IMF Articles of Agreement to avoid manipulating exchange rates or the international monetary system to prevent effective balance of payments adjustment or to gain an unfair competitive advantage.

In addition, they agreed that:

• any macroprudential or capital flow measures will not target exchange rates for competitive purposes;
• other government investment vehicles such as pension funds invest abroad for risk-adjusted return and diversification purposes, and not to target the exchange rate for competitive purposes; and
• in cases when intervention in foreign exchange markets may be considered, it should be reserved for combatting excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates, with the expectation that this tool would be considered equally appropriate for addressing excessively volatile or disorderly depreciation or appreciation.

The Treasury and BNM agreed on the importance of transparent exchange rate policies and practices. In this regard, BNM commits to public disclosure of:

• net purchase / sale of foreign exchange in the foreign exchange market, on an aggregated basis over a period of 12 months, published in end-March and end-September every year (i.e., on a 6-month rolling basis); and
• foreign exchange reserves data and forward positions according to the IMF's Data Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity on a monthly basis.

In addition, as part of continued collaboration between the Treasury and BNM, BNM commits to disclose, bilaterally with the Treasury, net purchase / sale of foreign exchange in the foreign exchange market, on an aggregated basis over a period of 6 months, with a 3-month lag. This information shall not be disclosed to other parties without BNM's agreement.