Weak ringgit versus high-income aspiration

Structural issues: A money changer holding the ringgit and US dollar notes. The ringgit’s long-term structural decline has yet to garner the urgent attention it deserves.

THE ringgit’s rapid fall against the US dollar this year to levels unseen since the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) has shocked many in Malaysia. Year-to-date, it has fallen by about 13%.

Against this backdrop, fears that Malaysia could be facing a looming economic crisis had been stoked further by depressing reports of widespread shortages and hardship in crisis-hit Sri Lanka.