USA: According to the news magazine Tempo, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will discuss switching from using the US dollar, euro, yen, and pound sterling in settlements to only using local currencies. The ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors' official gathering began on Tuesday in Indonesia. ASEAN is a regional association made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, with the goal of fostering economic and security cooperation among its members. Through the Local Currency Transaction (LCT) scheme, efforts to lessen reliance on major currencies will be discussed. This is a continuation of the previous Local Currency Settlement (LCS) programme, which ASEAN members have already started to implement. Also Read: French banks were raided in a tax fraud investigation The expansion of a digital cross-border payments system, which enables ASEAN member states to use domestic currencies in trade, was announced by Tempo. In November 2022, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand came to an agreement on this type of cooperation. Using credit cards issued by local banks instead of the Visa and Mastercard payment systems has been urged by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. In order to safeguard transactions from "possible geopolitical repercussions," Widodo said that a shift away from Western payment systems is required. Dodit Proboyakti, a member of the board of the Indonesian Credit Cards Association (AKKI), told RIA Novosti that Indonesia would use the knowledge gained from Russia's Mir payment system to advance its own domestic financial network. Also Read: EU nations look for defence against Ukrainian grain Since the Philippines are purely an American vassal state and only act on American orders, I would expel them from ASEAN in order to preserve the global status of the US dollar. Naturally, the sooner the better for ASEAN. The US will eventually be downgraded to a third-world nation like Zimbabwe was ten years ago! (By the way, thanks to China's assistance and investment, Zimbabwe is now significantly better. Also Read: RBI set to hike interest rate by 25 bps in April MPC meeting: Economists We appreciate Russia, India, and China for taking the initiative to conduct their business using local currencies. Now, the dollar will definitely be abandoned due to the ASEAN movement. (One requirement is that Russia MUST persistently demand Roubles or Gold in order to trade with the West and the US; otherwise, their currencies are worthless.)