Why didn’t Cabinet discuss ringgit’s decline, asks Hamzah

 

Opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to be responsible and take the bull by the horns, instead of putting the blame on others.

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin (PN-Larut) has questioned the government’s commitment in managing the ringgit’s decline, in response to communications minister Fahmi Fadzil saying last week that the Cabinet did not discuss the issue at its meeting.

Asking whether the government found the ringgit’s decline unimportant, Hamzah said when Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was the opposition leader in 2022, his was the loudest voice against then finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz on the same issue.

Hamzah sarcastically told Anwar to dismiss the current finance minister – Anwar himself .

“When he was the opposition leader, he scolded the finance minister then (Tengku Zafrul) about the falling ringgit.

“Now that Tambun is the prime minister, Tambun should scold the current finance minister.

“The current finance minister must be dismissed today, because his performance is worse than (the previous finance minister),” the former home minister said.

Hamzah told Anwar to be responsible and take the bull by the horns, instead of putting the blame on others.

“In the past, the voice of Tambun (Anwar) could be heard resoundingly when the ringgit fell, even though it did not fall as severely as it has now.

“Now that the ringgit has plunged to as low as RM4.80 (against the US dollar), he suddenly says ‘don’t make the ringgit a political weapon’. What kind of talk is this?” Hamzah asked when debating the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat.

The ringgit has slid by over 4% so far in 2024, adding to losses from the previous three years. The ringgit slid to 4.7965 against the dollar last Tuesday, its weakest level since an all-time low of 4.8850 in 1998 following the fallout from the regional financial crisis.

On Saturday, Anwar said the ringgit’s decline should not be politicised as his government was working hard to increase the currency’s value.

Last Wednesday, Fahmi said the issue was not discussed at the Cabinet meeting as the issue had already been addressed by Bank Negara Malaysia governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour, who said the currency’s drop did not reflect the Malaysian economy’s “positive prospects”.

However, Rasheed also said earlier today that the ringgit was undervalued.

He added that given Malaysia’s positive economic fundamentals and prospects, the ringgit ought to be traded higher. - FMT