Malaysia is no currency manipulator, finance minister says

Southeast Asia’s third biggest economy was for the first time put on the US Treasury’s ‘monitoring list’ in May for meeting two of its three criteria

But Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told lawmakers in parliament on Thursday that the country did not deliberately devalue the ringgit

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Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, centre, holds a briefcase containing budget documents outside the Finance Ministry earlier this month. Photo: EPA

Published: 7:21pm, 31 Oct 2019Updated: 7:21pm, 31 Oct 2019

Malaysia’s finance minister said on Thursday the country would not be labelled a currency manipulator when the United States Treasury Department releases the second of its twice-yearly report on foreign exchange policies of US trading partners.

Southeast Asia’s third biggest economy was for the first time put on the treasury’s “monitoring list” in May for meeting two of its three criteria: having a significant bilateral trade surplus with the US, a substantial current account surplus and persistent one-sided intervention in foreign exchange markets.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng speaks in parliament house, Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AP

Malaysia was found to be meeting the first two conditions, but Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told lawmakers in parliament the country did not deliberately devalue the ringgit.

“I would like to guarantee that we will ensure Malaysia will only be on the watch list, and if possible be removed from the list,” he said to a question on the impending report.

Once the US Treasury puts a country on the watch list it keeps in there for two consecutive reports to scrutinise its trade and currency-related practices.