Bank Negara to ensure ringgit adjusts in orderly manner - governor

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will do whatever is necessary to ensure the ringgit continues to adjust in an orderly manner, which allows businesses to be facilitated as well.

Governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Abdul Ghaffour said the central bank has a number of market measures that can be deployed to boost the ringgit if needed.

However, he did not share the details of the measures when met by reporters on the sidelines of the Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3) Journey to Zero Conference 2023 today.

Abdul Rasheed stressed that while the ringgit’s level versus the US dollar has touched the Asian financial crisis level, the country is not in a crisis based on its strong fundamentals reflected by its economic growth and well-capitalised banking system, among others.

The governor explained that the currency market is operating in an environment of a strong US dollar, and the financial market is further affected by recent geopolitical developments.

"Almost all currencies in the world depreciated against the US dollar, especially those in emerging markets, including Malaysia.

"What I want to highlight is that although we have touched the Asian financial crisis level, we are not in a crisis. It is different from what we experienced in the past,” he said.

He said the Department of Statistics Malaysia recently projected that the third quarter (Q3) gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 3.3 per cent, up from the 2.9 per cent growth in the quarter before.

"Secondly, we have a strong banking system supported by a high level of capitalisation and healthy assets and they are ready to fund the economy to support the economic growth in Malaysia.

"Thirdly, our capital sector is also very strong with capital account surplus,” he noted.

Earlier in his remarks at the conference, Abdul Rasheed said with growth gaining momentum, steady disinflation, the current account surplus and a strong banking system, the current ringgit movements appear to be more heavily influenced by global events.

"And it certainly does not reflect our economic fundamentals,” he said, adding that Malaysia's economy today is resilient, notably in terms of economic fundamentals, the robustness of the financial sector, and the debt of the financial markets. - Bernama