Malaysia Not Pressured To Raise Rates

While recent market turmoil may have sparked a rate-hike trend among emerging market central banks, one Asian economy could buck the trend and stay pat for the rest of the year.

Despite the ringgit hovering near a four-year low as a result of the ongoing selloff in emerging markets, Bank Negara Malaysia left its overnight policy rate (OPR) unchanged at 3 percent for a 16th straight meeting on Wednesday. The decision stands in stark contrast to Turkey’s shocking 425 basis point rate rise, South Africa’s 50 basis point increase and India’s surprise 25 basis point hike.

The general consensus is for Malaysia to hike rates this year, but OCBC Bank has a contrarian call.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza