Wah, you the smart one, others here talking about converting their Ringgit to foreign currency and you pulak the opposite, convert USD to Ringgit (i.e. lock in profit) and go for FD Promo 

Info on the Ambank 4.5% 36 months promo, it is an Islamic Banking product and customers are required to open an Islamic saving or current account despite not mentioned in their T&C at all. So I am skipping this promo as already hold a conventional account with them.

i m one of those that have been moving some out, not in.

imo, seeing many banks now offering 4%, 4,2% does not bode well for the rm.

hlb report expects rm to settle at 3.55 per usd in the next few months.

Anyway Bro, you moving any into AUD? RM have actually strengthen against AUD, even in the last month.

See attachment below for RUB- close to 100% "profit" within a month or two!

Back in 1998, when our RM was fluctuating and everybody having no cash in hand and government equally broke, I remembered that Habib appealed to the Rakyat to donate their Gold to the government!!!

Finally!

Congrats. You deserve it the most.
I replied to the same SMS on 16-Dec but yet to receive the Medklinn.

Bro, you sure ar you want me to tell you a freaking long story? haha

1995 we still had RM1000 notes and you want take a briefcase full of RM1K notes overseas also no problem.

Here is the story, but most probably 99.9% inaccurate....

In 1997/98 when we had the power crazy DSAI as Finance Minister (but the young Malaysians today don't know and thinks he is Mr. Clean and DAP wants him to be PM because they equally power crazy  ). In mid 1997, our stock market was in a all time high. Then one fine day in early 1997, Tun Daim said he plays the stock market for pocket money. Which was true, I can make more than RM1K per day (one time 2 weeks straight without a break) from the stock market (I was in my late twenties then) and would burn my money on gadgets and entertainment. Next thing you know, the stock market dived 70% followed by the Ringgit depreciating at light speed. I have a chart showing the stock market from 1992 to 2012 in my article Saving For Retirement Years.

The then FM, the power crazy DSAI allowed interest rate shoot up to 18% and USD/MYR at 4.80!!! Can get FD interest rate at 14% back in 1997/98! Banks also started to cancel loan facilities which affected businesses, people not buying houses or cars because loan freaking high, those having housing loan got less disposable income, factories keep loosing money as supplies (bouhgt in USD) keep increasing, etc. etc. The economy was really bad, many people were laid off and many become bankrupt because cannot service loan. Well, some say it was DSAI doing so that by the Rakyat suffering, he got excuse to topple the wise TDM. TDM pulak blame it on Soros. And at the same time, people were worried that our currency will depreciate further and took lots of money cash out - for example Selanor ex-MB Muhammad Taib caught in Australia in 1997 with a briefcase full of cash.

Anyway, our economy was getting from bad to worst to no hope. The wise TDM then sacked our useless FM and made himself FM and immediately took actions listed below (copy and paste from here):

On the 1st day of September 1998, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad announced the capital controls to be installed. Malaysia's capital controls were a mix of the above measures and nothing new although the press claimed it was unique because Malaysia did not embrace the IMF.

The following measures were taken to ensure that the objectives of stabilizing the Ringgit and control the capital flows could be accomplished.

> Overseas bound local travellers were only allowed to take up to RM1,000.

> Remittance of funds by residents to overseas were capped at RM10,000.

> Ringgit is pegged to the dollar at the rate of RM3.80 to US1 to facilitate trade in the domestic sector.

> Any ringgit remaining outside of Malaysia was not considered  legal tender. This was to prevent speculators from borrowing the ringgit  offshore to sell it in the domestic market for dollars. In other words,  to stop speculators from short selling the ringgit and when the ringgit  depreciated, buy back to repay their offshore ringgit loans.

> Any credit facilities obtained overseas needed prior approval  and only companies that earned foreign exchange were allowed to obtain  offshore credit.

> Funds raised from the sale of equities or other forms of  investments had to stay in the country for 12 months. This was to  prevent short-term capital flight.

> Clearing of Stocks listed on the KLSE could only be done on the KLSE or its approved exchanges.

> RM500 and RM1000 currency notes were made non-legal tender to prevent smuggling of Ringgit to neighboring countries.

> Dealing of shares in CLOB was made illegal to prevent the flow  of funds to Singapore and also to discourage the arbitraging of shares  between the two exchanges.


So after the wise TDM made himself FM, things started to look brighter. With him pegging the Ringgit, our factories can once again work out costing and quote their foreign customers and price of Rolex watch finally stabilize, hahaha

Economic growth is depending on the money supply in the market. The tool used by central bank to increase and decrease money supply is through controlling the interest rate. With oil prices dropping and people with negative economy outlook, most countries will have concern on recession. Conventional tools like open market operation, discount ratio and reserve ratio etc are not effective in spurring the growth. Zero interest policy, QE, Credit easing, negative interest rate were introduced. Thus it wont be surprise that BNM may follow what US is doing to encourage more spending instead of keeping money in bank as the GST induced inflation pressure will be countered by big drop in oil prices.

Bro, for FD above 12 months, I guess most banks need us to have a CASA account for the semi-annually interest to be credited into.
Bro, 4% - 4.2% also not to your expectation  But then again if FD interest rate ever goes up to 10% and above, that time we will be more worried and wonder if we should go with FD or change all our money to gold!! See attachment below for RUB- close to 100% "profit" within a month or two!

Back in 1998, when our RM was fluctuating and everybody having no cash in hand and government equally broke, I remembered that Habib appealed to the Rakyat to donate their Gold to the government!!!

Anyway Bro, you moving any into AUD? RM have actually strengthen against AUD, even in the last month.

seems like Aud is cutting interest next year, thus the slump lately. My RM has offered me dual currency investment paired with AUD but I dont wanna end up stuck with a large sum of AUD if it depreciates further

True, true. That's the risk of playing FOREX.... USD how high can go before it starts to loose steam and head south? AUD how low can go since Oz economy bad? How long more can MYR keep strengthening versus AUD? Maybe better solution is just go use our money and buy agricultural land (no assessment and low quit rent) where the price is sure to rise with time and proven time and time again better than FD interest rate. Or maybe just go gamble on gold 

> Ringgit is pegged to the dollar at the rate of RM3.80 to US1 to facilitate trade in the domestic sector.

agree...

1key (i coined this one, ok? ) question - how low can the rm go given the shit we're in (if u read all there is to read about debt levels, capital outflows, 1mdx, etc.... and with #123 mentelis mia... n xtrem proxies getting the limelight every f'g day. epf money to the rescue for sure... but foreign $?

Bro, debt is good. US debt more than USD 18 Trillion and economy growing. On the other hand, Malaysia government freaking rich so much so they handing out FREE money to those who earn up to RM4K/month who also don't pay a single sen of income tax. So by right, Ringgit should be worth more than USD 

US Citizens in debt per person = USD56K versus Malaysian's debt per person USD5.7K. So can I say each Malaysian is 10 times richer than a US citizen? haha
Source:  US Debt Clock versus Malaysia Debt Clock

Bro, debt is good. US debt more than USD 18 Trillion and economy growing. On the other hand, Malaysia government freaking rich so much so they handing out FREE money to those who earn up to RM4K/month who also don't pay a single sen of income tax. So by right, Ringgit should be worth more than USD 

US Citizens in debt per person = USD56K versus Malaysian's debt per person USD5.7K. So can I say each Malaysian is 10 times richer than a US citizen? haha
Source:  US Debt Clock versus Malaysia Debt Clock

ok!

usa is big brother on earth man-made world, no challenge.

msia, like others, behaving like them... end up like russia, maybe.

it's like a casino - the house (usa) can issue chips, players cannot.

well, one day the casino can n will collapse too... armageddon, they call it, no?

If a country borrows money to finance on capital equipments or other investments to generate revenue to pay part of the debt then borrowing money to finance growth is acceptable. A manufacturer borrows money to buy machines to produce products for sales is better than a person borrowing money to pay the outstanding credit cards payment.

Let us hope it does not get that bad, else is even harder to play musical chair!
Btw, why i asked if the article is for real is in my opinion, the pressure to increase the interest rate is still higher due to:
1. GST next year pushes up inflation
2. Petrol price is going down but CPI is still high especially due to the surprise increase in diesel which many businesses rely on
3. Even at the end of the day, many businesses are reluctant to reduce prices as many would say, prices only go up but rarely go down.
4. Banks are still attracting more deposits since it is at almost an all time low
5. Outflow of funds from the country
6. Depreciation of ringgit also pushes up inflation.

I also believe that piece of news is a tactic to encourage the nation to temporarily spend more..

1. GST inflation factor is one off, BNM won't act on one off event, as the raising rate effort is useless to cope the inflation by one off event.

2. Price increases has a lot to do with subsidies cut/abolished, again this is one off event, raising interest rate won't curb this kind of inflation.

So this 2 factor won't be the sole/main consideration when BNM deciding on rate.
Raising interest rate will only curb inflation, if the inflation is demand pull factor.
Cost higher due to 1&2 is a push factor, which even you raise interest rate to 10%, the price still need/will go up.

The pressure of rate hike is not that great at the moment, if
a. Household debt is not raising further.
b. Inflation is not running wild away due to high demand by consumer.
c. RM is not depreciated too greatly, in fact RM appreciated against AUD, NZD, Yen.
d. Foreign currency reserves is not depleting rapidly,due to current account deficit (now still surplus)

Btw, RHB 6 months 4.0% & 9 months 4.15% promo has been extended till 31 Dec 2014.

http://www.rhbbank.com.my/Whats_New/deposi...t-FD-rates-now/