KL maintains currency peg

KL maintains currency peg

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysia will not change its currency's peg
to the U.S. dollar any time soon because the capital controls
have helped to strengthen the country's economy, a senior finance
official said.

Deputy Finance Minister Shafie Mohamad Saleh said late
Thursday that there was no reason to review the fixed peg since
it had helped boost the country's trade surplus and foreign
exchange reserves, the national news agency Bernama reported.

Malaysia pegged its currency, the ringgit, at 3.8 to the U.S.
dollar and banned offshore trading of the currency in September
1998 as part of exchange controls intended to protect the
ringgit.

The restrictions were intended to keep money inside the
country and insulate Malaysia from the Asian financial crisis.