Ringgit expected to strengthen in 2024 – Rafizi

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit is expected to strengthen in 2024 driven by several factors, including the government’s fiscal discipline, better global economic growth and easing of uncertainties in the United States (US) currency policy, Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli said.

He said the ringgit’s performance has to be viewed from a broader perspective and measured against other currencies and not solely against the US dollar.

“This is how central banks around the world measure the value of their currency, which is a comparison against a group of other major currencies that trade with that country.

“The majority of currencies in the world depreciated against the US dollar as a result of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) aggressive actions to raise interest rates,” he said in a post on X today.

He said the value of a currency has to be measured against other economic indicators such as economic growth, inflation rate, amount of new investment, interest rate, unemployment rate and salary scale, among others.

Sementara nilai matawang sesebuah negara adalah salah satu dari petunjuk kedudukan ekonomi, ia hanyalah satu petunjuk berbanding petunjuk-petunjuk lain. pic.twitter.com/aPKNXX7jwP

— Rafizi Ramli (@rafiziramli) November 29, 2023

Rafizi said the Malaysian economy grew at a good momentum for three consecutive quarters with the lowest inflation rate since 2021.

The ringgit depreciated by 0.6 per cent against the US dollar and fell 0.2 per cent against the Singapore dollar in the third quarter of 2023.

However, the local unit strengthened against the Japanese yen by 2.9 per cent, improved against the Thai baht and British pound by 2.4 per cent and also appreciated against the Indonesian rupiah (two per cent), South Korean won (1.7 per cent), euro (1.6 per cent), Australian dollar (14 per cent) and Chinese renminbi (0.2 per cent). – BK