KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's economic expansion will have the biggest influence over how the ringgit fares this year, International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said.
"We have to look at the growth of the economy. Malaysia's growth will have a bearing on the strength on the ringgit this year, I think. That will be the key determinant," he told Bloomberg Television's Haslinda Amin at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
Tengku Zafrul cited a forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) expansion of four to five per cent this year as projected by Bank Negara Malaysia.
That would come after a rapid, reopening-driven rebound last year, which saw gross domestic product jump by 14.2 per cent in the September quarter from a year earlier, the fastest pace in more than a year.
"We are seeing that the ringgit has actually strengthened. It is markets that dictate the value and from the trade perspective, from the investment perspective, as long as we are comparatively moving in the same direction with the basket of countries that are trading with us, we should be OK," Bloomberg quoted him as saying.
Against the backdrop of a slowing economy, he reckons Malaysia does need to take steps to make itself more amenable for companies to operate in.
"The focus will have to be on making it easier - ease of doing business. I think that's one of the key opportunities for Malaysia to improve itself," Tengku Zafrul said.
