We can live with same-day forex fix: Glove makers

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) is standing down from its request to be exempted from Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) rule for exporters to convert 75% of their export earnings to ringgit following concessions by the central bank.
Rubber glove manufacturers are satisfied with BNM’s move to fix the same-day foreign exchange (forex) rate on banks, when they convert their export earnings to ringgit and re-convert it to the US dollars.
“That is already very good for us. For the moment, we can live with it,” Margma president Denis Low Jau Foo told SunBiz in an interview.
He said instead of having to convert 75% of their export earnings to ringgit, the exporters are now allowed to convert all of their foreign earnings to ringgit, and reconvert it back to the US dollar, using the same-day forex rate.
“But we must utilise it within six months,” Low added.
Earlier this month, Bank Negara announced that exporters could only retain up to 25% of their export proceeds in foreign currency, while the remainder must be converted into ringgit, to boost the liquidity of the local currency.