OPR likely to remain unchanged

Bank Muamalat's Mohd Afzanizam reckons that Bank Negara will keep the OPR steady at 3% as the prevailing monetary policy stance is appropriate to promote growth

PETALING JAYA: With inflation easing to its lowest levels since March 2021 and the country’s gross domestic product expected to expand at a faster pace this year, economists are projecting that Bank Negara will keep the overnight policy rate (OPR) unchanged at its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting today.

Malaysia witnessed a sequence of interest rate hikes by the central bank in 2021, reversing the rate from a historic low of 1.75% in 2020. The country started 2023 with the OPR at 2.75%, a level maintained in the majority of the MPC meetings throughout the past year, with the exception of the meeting in May where the OPR was raised to its present rate of 3%.