The Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus expressed the possibility that the overnight policy rate (OPR) will not be aggressively increased before the end of this year.
He stated this after the announcement of Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) data for the 2nd quarter (Q2) last Friday which was higher than expected.
He commented that the aggressive increase is not in line with the 'staged and methodical' policy vision as set before.
He added that if there is an aggressive increase, it will not affect the momentum of loan payments and the Malaysian economy is seen to be able to 'absorb it well'.
This may refer to the previous OPR increase of 50 basis points following an increase of 25 basis points in July and another 25 basis points in May.
In the same press conference, Governor Shamsiah also said GDP growth for Q3 will be higher with the factors of domestic demand, private consumption, private investment and public investment.
He explained that increased domestic demand will offset the moderation of external demand and on that basis BNM avoided the 5.3% to 6.3% growth forecast as announced in March 2022.
Touching on the ringgit, the Governor stated that it was moving 'in line with other trading partners' with the value of the national currency being stronger than regional ones.
