Don’t downplay ringgit’s slide, Tengku Zafrul told

 

DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook said the value of the ringgit had dropped during the 1997 economic crisis.

PETALING JAYA: Finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz was told by DAP not to downplay the ringgit’s slide against the US dollar.

Its secretary-general Loke Siew Fook said that a downtrend against the greenback would affect Malaysians as it would see an increase in the cost of imported food.

“And when the cost of importing food increases, it becomes more expensive and will contribute to a much higher inflation (rate),” said Loke in his weekly online talk tonight.

It was previously reported that Malaysia had been recording over RM50 billion, annually, on importing basic foodstuff such as rice, beef and cabbage.

“Therefore the ringgit’s performance should not be downplayed, and we should not say that just because we are not experiencing an economic crisis, we should not pay attention to the slide.”

Loke said the country could not afford to wait until a recession hit before addressing the issue.

In a Bernama report yesterday, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia was not experiencing an economic crisis just because the ringgit traded low against the US dollar.

He also said as an exporting country, the low ringgit would have a positive effect on the country’s export revenue.

But Loke pointed out that the value of the ringgit had dropped during the 1997 economic crisis.

The Seremban MP then called upon Putrajaya to adopt serious measures to strengthen the ringgit’s value and prevent it from sliding even further.

The ringgit slipped further to a fresh 24-year low against the US dollar at yesterday’s opening as at 9.05am when it slid to 4.5200/5220 against the US dollar from 4.5070/5085 at Tuesday’s close. - FMT