Malaysia’s ringgit falls to lowest in a year

The ringgit last traded at 4.2410 per US dollar, its lowest since July 2020. (Photo: www.straitstimes.com)

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The Malaysian ringgit fell to a one-year low on August 16 in response to a possible change in the leadership of the Government of Malaysia.

The stock market in Kua Lumpur also slipped as investors were cautious about political development in this Southeast Asian country.

The ringgit last traded at 4.2410 per dollar, its lowest since July 2020, while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia index fell 0.6 percent in the first few minutes of trade.

Although the economic growth of Malaysia in the second quarter of this year reached 16.1 percent over the same period last year, the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) has decided to lower its economic growth for 2021 to 3-4 percent from the previous forecast of 6-7.5 percent due to the government's imposition of a nationwide lockdown amid the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

BNM Governor Nor Shamsiah Yunus has recently said that after falling 17.1 percent in the same period last year, the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2021 grew 16.1 percent year-on-year, higher than the previous market forecast of 14.3 percent.

Malaysia's economy increased by 7.8 percent in the first six months of 2021./.