Lim: Judge ringgit's performance on a yearly basis

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng says the ringgit's performance should be evaluated on a yearly basis and not day-to-day.

He said this when asked whether fiscal measures were being worked on to shore up the local currency after it fell to the lowest in three months last week.

"We should see the performance on a yearly period. A daily projection is inaccurate... because the ringgit or (currency) market will go up and down daily, as usual," Lim said in a group interview yesterday.

Last Tuesday, the ringgit fell 0.54 percent to 4.1285 against the US dollar in late trading. the lowest since Jan 25.

It has since dipped further, closing yesterday at 4.1300.

At around the same time last year, the ringgit was trading at around 3.8900 to the greenback.

Bloomberg reported that the current decline in the ringgit was due to persistent fears of capital flight from the country.

The Star cited Mahathir as saying on April 13 that the government may reintroduce measures to protect the ringgit if speculators continue to attack the currency. - Mkini