With the initiatives introduced by the Financial Market’s Committee on 5 December 2016 stabilising the ringgit, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) revealed that it will introduce more measures should there be a need for it, reported New Straits Times.
“There are three things that I want to address. The first being that the measures we implemented on December 5th, 2016 resulted in the ringgit stabilising,” Bank Negara governor Datuk Seri Muhammad Ibrahim told the media at the Karnival Keawangan 2017.
“Secondly, if need be, we will introduce new measures, so we can basically strengthen that policy…And thirdly, we notice that speculative activity has reduced since then.”
Muhammad noted that the ringgit will stabilise within six months from the implementation of the new measures.
“It will take three to six months before we can see the stabilisation, but we have seen good progress so far,” he said.
To be introduced only when it is appropriate to do so, the additional measures will not be a form of capital control, since this is not a fixing of the ringgit, “but to stabilise the ringgit in making sure that people who want the dollar get the dollar, that people who want the ringgit get the ringgit, and to ensure that liquidity is always there in our market,” explained the governor.
He also called on the public to not be too fixated on what should be the ideal ringgit levels.
“I must stress that we must not be fixated on any particular levels. It is very important… that once we have realigned the demand and supply, that the ringgit’s (value is) dictated by actual demand for the currency… and that is when the ringgit will stabilise.”
Image sourced from New Straits Times
Diane Foo Eu Lynn, Senior Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my
