Malaysia says currency stable
Malaysia says currency stable
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim yesterday sought to assure investors following heavy selling pressure on the ringgit last week and a further decline yesterday.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, reiterated that the government would not introduce new measures to steady the ringgit, but would continue to monitor its level.
Forex dealers said the ringgit closed sharply lower against the U.S. dollar yesterday, weakening 85 points to 2.5620 from 2.5535 at Tuesday's close, on strong support for the greenback.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had earlier vowed to keep the ringgit stable after the ringgit came under heavy selling pressure last Thursday, with talk that a top-league currency raider was speculating on the ringgit.
The central bank, Bank Negara, moved swiftly to mop up short- term funds amid rumors in Singapore that U.S. billionaire George Soros had bought US$500 million against the ringgit through Singapore and other banks in the region.
Anwar also continued to assure investors that the country's economic boom was still manageable.
"We are talking about controlled growth. We are talking about reducing imports and the promotion of exports," he said, adding that "to say we are not monitoring growth is absolutely nonsense."
The government is targeting slower economic growth of 8.5 percent in 1996 after a strong economic expansion of 9.6 percent last year, and an average annual growth surpassing eight percent since 1987.
Anwar reassured that policies to curb inflation and manage the economy were effective.
He dismissed suggestions that there were differing views in tackling the current account deficit, alluding to talk of conflicting policies between the central bank and the treasury in managing the economy.
Analysts said Mahathir's remarks that the government was not slowing growth or using monetary tools to tame the widening deficit had opened the ringgit to speculative attack.
"Mahathir's policies apparently clash with the central bank's views," an analyst said.