Malaysia's Ringgit. (Photo: kualalumpurpost.net) Malaysian ringgit has plunged to a new 17-year low and closed at 4.3405 per US dollar earlier this week.
The downward spiral results from the possibility of rising interest rates issued by the US Federal Reserve this month and sluggish Chinese growth that triggered a renewed selloff in emerging market economies.
An extended decline in crude oil prices also put pressure on the currency and investors are concerned by current domestic political uncertainties.
The ringgit has lost 19 percent against the US dollar since the beginning of 2015, the worst performer in the region. It also reached a new record low at 3.0356 against the Singapore dollar.
As of the end of August, Malaysia’s international reserves stood at just 94.7 billion USD, which represented a marginal increase of 0.2 percent from just two weeks earlier.
Statistics reckoned that the lowest exchange rate recorded was 4.7125 ringgit per US dollar in January 1998. The rate between ringgit and US dollar was fixed at 3.80 from September 1998 until July this year.-VNA
