Comment: See what happens when the country and the economy is being raped by those in power. Subject: Ringgit falls to 15-year low against the Singapore dollar BY RANJIT SINGH Malaysian Insider, July 30, 2013 The Malaysian ringgit fell to a 15-year low when it slipped further to hit RM2.586 against the Singapore dollar today, media reports said. On a yearly basis, the ringgit had fallen by 5.5%, seen as a cheer for Malaysians who work in the island republic. “Persistent selling of Malaysian Government Securities had caused some currency outflow which in turn caused the ringgit to weaken,” Aberdeen Asset Management managing director Gerald Ambrose told The Malaysian Insider today. News agency Bloomberg reported today that some 33% of Malaysian debt papers are held by foreigners. It said that US$2.9 billion worth of papers are due to mature tomorrow and this had cause some nervousness in the market. Malaysians working across the Causeway would be happy with the development as most of them repatriated a portion of their income back home. However, the weakness of the ringgit which would make Malaysian exports cheaper are not expected to have a strong effect as the demand for Malaysian exports had been declining since the early part of the year. The strength of the Singaporean dollar could see further investments by Singaporeans in the Malaysian property market which already has strong participation by them. Singaporeans are among the foreigners who actively participate in the Malaysian property market and have been blamed for the high property prices in prime areas in major towns in the country. Malaysian laws only allow foreign purchase of properties above the RM500,000 threshold. DAP’s national publicity chief and PJ Utara MP Tony Pua said a longer horizon was needed to critically examine the cause of the sharp decline of the ringgit. “The depreciation of the ringgit is a cause of concern but it has to be viewed through a longer time horizon,” Pua told The Malaysian Insider today. “Malaysians working in Singapore should benefit but there is a case for imported inflation in Johor Baru due to its proximity to Singapore,” he added. - July 30, 2013. themalaysianinsider/malaysia/article/ringgit-falls-to-15-year-low-against-the-singapore-dollar
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 07:34:16 +0000
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