PETALING JAYA: The government has agreed to form a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate the foreign exchange losses amounting to billions of ringgit suffered by Bank Negara in the 1980s.

The Prime Minister's Office said in a statement Wednesday that the Cabinet "unanimously agreed" with the recommendation of the special task force of the need to set up the RCI to enable investigations into the losses to continue.

The statement said the task force found a prima facie case on the losses to merit in-depth investigations and for misleading the Cabinet and Parliament.

It said the RCI "is aimed at safeguarding public interest and to identify the actual losses caused by the foreign exchange transactions involving the national reserves."

It said the RCI would be conducted in accordance with the laws and those of immunity under Act 119.

The task force that was formed in February headed by former chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan presented its findings to the Cabinet on Wednesday.