Clarity of government policy helps attract investment, strengthen value of ringgit - PM Anwar
10 Oct 2023 12:28pm
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He said the ringgit's performance this year was largely driven by external factors such as the sharp strengthening of the US dollar that has been driven by higher US interest rates, as well as China's weaker-than-expected economic conditions.
Therefore, most of the world's currencies have experienced depreciation for the year 2023, including the ringgit, because of the actions of the US Federal Reserve which raised interest rates, he pointed out.
"The value of the ringgit does not depend on fundamentals such as good (economic) growth, good investment, falling inflation or falling unemployment rates, the falling value of the ringgit is not in line with the economic policies introduced by the government.
"By only strengthening the local economy can we increase the value of the ringgit and we take the approach of not increasing the overnight policy rate (OPR) on consideration of the increase in the value of the US dollar," said Anwar during the Minister's Question Time session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was answering Datuk Awang Hashim's (PN-Pendang) question about the effectiveness of the government's measures in dealing with the impact of the ringgit's dwindling value, which had hit RM4.73 against the US dollar.
