The perils of cheap money

Falling rates: A high-end apartment near the Petronas Twin Towers that used to fetch a monthly rental rate of RM15,000 is now going only for RM8,000. Even apartments with lower rental rates of between RM4,000 and RM5,000 per month are coming down fast.

The Alternative View column

THE banks in Europe are literally sleeping on money, no thanks to the negative interest rate policy of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Under normal monetary conditions, banks earn a small return from excess cash they place with central banks. However, in the case of a negative interest rate regime, commercial banks are charged a levy for placing the deposit.