THE government is seeking to strike a balance in overcoming the problem of a depreciating ringgit so that the nation’s interest rates will not cause foreign investors to take their money out of the country, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said.

He said the slide of the ringgit was linked to the country’s low interest rates, and if the government raised them too high, it would burden small and medium companies.

“If I have RM1 million, I want to put it in a bank. I have a choice of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Singapore and Indonesia have high interest rates.

“So I choose to put it outside (Indonesia and Singapore). That is our problem now,” he said at the “Program Temu Anwar Negri Sembilan” at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia in Nilai today.

He said this when answering a question from a Form Six student, identified as Adriana, who wanted to know the action the government was taking to strengthen the country’s currency.

Anwar, who is also finance minister, said although faced with a depreciating ringgit, the country’s economic growth continued to rise in the first quarter of this year, surpassing those of Singapore, Indonesia and China.

“It would have been different if our economy had dropped, with a decline in the ringgit’s value, lower investment and lower growth. But that was not our case. Our investment is good at RM71 billion in the first four months. We just have to find ways to bring back investments with several incentives,” he said.

“I say setting up a financial hub in Johor is one way. Then MM2H (Malaysia My Second Home) to bring in people who can bring in money and several more which I announced last week. We are thinking of several more measures.”

However, Anwar admitted that it would not be easy to attract more investments because foreign investors still have a perception of instability in the country following rumours that there might be a change of government in August.

“It is good that people (investors) are more confident in me than them. They say if Anwar is still leading, they have confidence the government will be stable,” he said.

“If others take over, they will withdraw. I’m not campaigning for the unity government, but this is a fact.” – Bernama, June 24, 2023.