KUALA LUMPUR: The pressure on the ringgit against the US dollar is hoped to lessen when the US debt ceiling issue is resolved over the next few days, said Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.
He said the government is awaiting the latest developments on the US debt ceiling issue which is expected to be resolved in the next five to six days before taking any action.
He said the US government is striving to resolve its debt ceiling problem as soon as possible while President Joe Biden also said that his administration would try to settle the issue by June 6.
“(There’s) only a few days left (before the deadline), we hope this matter will be resolved, it’s hopeful the ringgit is not as what is happening today,“ he told a press conference here, today.
He said this after making an official visit to the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to attend a briefing on the country’s capital market status.
According to Ahmad, SC executive chairman Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek Hussin in his briefing earlier also stressed that investors who hold US dollars are facing a stalemate situation when the US debt ceiling crisis is not resolved.
“Hence, when the US debt ceiling could be increased, holdings in US dollar will reduce and demand for the US dollar will also decline, subsequently (causing the pressure) on the ringgit/US dollar exchange rate to reduce,“ he added.
According to international media reports, the deadline for the US debt ceiling crisis was extended to June 5, 2023 before the country will run out of money to pay its bills on time.
In another development, Ahmad said the number of complaints on fraud or scams received by the SC last year recorded a 100 per cent increase to 1,124 complaints compared with 548 in 2020.
He said some 60 per cent of the complaints were investment frauds, especially online, involving losses of tens of millions of ringgit.
“As such, the SC has and will take pre-emptive actions, including through Alert List, to block the websites and social media accounts as well as issue notices to cease and desist,“ he added. -Bernama
