KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan has clarified that the government currently has no intentions to peg the ringgit. Addressing concerns during a session in the Dewan Negara, Amir Hamzah emphasized that the economic conditions surrounding the decision to peg the ringgit in 1998 were vastly different from the present circumstances. He noted that while the stock market had plummeted by 76 per cent in 1998, it has shown a 6.0 per cent rise since the beginning of this year.
Moreover, foreign debt in 1998 stood at over 16 per cent of the GDP, compared to the current 2.0 or 1.0 per cent. With Malaysia’s national reserves at approximately RM13 billion, a significant improvement from the RM26 billion recorded in 1998, Amir Hamzah stressed the government’s sensitivity to ringgit-related issues and its commitment to address them within the MADANI economy framework, expressing confidence in the ringgit’s future stability and potential improvement.
