MONEY MASTER

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves fell RM8.3bil to RM356.4bil (US$94.5bil) over the past two weeks until Aug 14. BNM said on Thursday the international reserves as at Aug 14 was sufficient to finance 7.5 months of retained imports and it was 1.0 time the short-term external debt. The reserves had declined by RM8.3bil from the RM364.7bil (US$96.7bil) as at July 31, 2015. The reserves position then was sufficient to finance 7.6 months of retained imports and was 1.1 times the short-term external debt. The above news was taken from Bank Negara reserves decline to RM356B from The Star. The bad news is the reserves are still dropping, but at slower rate; although the Malaysian Ringgit continue to dive until 4.19 against the US Dollar before gaining back and close at 4.17 for the weekends. The slower rate of the reserves drop would most likely because there is no longer intervention by the Bank Negara against the Malaysian Ringgit devaluation ...

There is no sign of slowing down as the FBM KLCI continued to fall with weakening Ringgit against the USD.  As of 5pm today, the FBM KLCI closed at  1,654.37 as stocks like Tenaga Nasional Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd and other energy counters lead the declined. The ringgit depreciated to 3.9365 against the US dollar after weakening to a fresh level at 3.9420 earlier. To put into perspective, the Malaysian stocks fell to their lowest in more than two years.  With the weakening Ringgit and the announcement of the decline in the Malaysia's international reserves, that fell below the US$100 billion threshold, at US$96.7 billion as at July 31 this year, according to Bank Negara Malaysia's statement last Friday (Aug 7). This compared to US$100.5 billion on July 15. The Malaysia's political scene is not encouraging as well with the recent Cabinet reshuffle. Such political sentiment and other global factors have not augured well for the ringgit...

The Ringgit weakened against the USD and this trend seems to continue and show no sign of slowing down. USD against MYR currency A quick search on google will show you this and it's scary because the spike doesn't seem to slow down and there's no sign of it any time soon.  And to make matters worse, the BNM International Reserve as of July 2015 has shrunk below US$100 billion.  BNM International Reserves shrunk below US$100 billion To put into perspective, this is the first time that the reserve has fall below this level since August 2010.  The central bank gave a statement today and said the reserves' position is sufficient to finance 7.6 months of retained imports and is 1.1 times the short-term external debt.  The concern on the Ringgit currency is real as it has depreciated for 8 consecutive days.  The local currency slipped further today to 3.9265 against the US dollar — the lowest level in 17 years — compared with Thursday...

A lot of us Malaysians are probably upset with the depreciation of the Ringgit.  Weakened Ringgit The Ringgit has weakened to multi-year low and breached the previous low of RM3.73 to the USD and according to a lot of research, it is inching towards the pegged level of RM3.80/USD. This morning, while I was driving to work, I heard from BFM on their discussion. Apparently, our foreign reserve exchange is stand at an estimate of around 100 billion USD.  If you're like me, you'll probably feel the pinch as I'm earning in RM. To talk about travelling would be a pain in the ass now because I'll have to fork out more most of the time. I suspect gadgets like Apple products might see another increase if the drop in the currency continues. Even then, Zeti insist that the RM is still strong and it's only at this level due to negative sentiments. I'm not sure if I'm buying it but as Ringgit continues to weaken, perhaps it's time to look at who...