i think there is a more powerful hand managing the levels for us.
Who, spending a few 10s of billions of $ is nothing.

Now you know WHY our country is in deep shite with ministers like this one around to manage the country.
But then again, why do they care? Their millions are outside the country

RM is worst hit because of .........1***.....fill in the blanks

AND of course............D***

i know i asked this before...........

while those who invested outside heavily can pat theirselves on the back and be smug.....think of the rest who have not.

HOW much do you hedge your net worth in foreign assets IF you are NOT MIGRATING?

Any assets class: Stocks, properties, businesses, etc

Wow!

That's drastic action!

It's a bit more difficult if majority of one's assets is in properties.

Msia style of national administration: Shoot first and worry wbout the mess later!
Typical Malaysian style!

We are in transition from subsidies. that's what subsidies do to a country....beggaring.

Plus of course our management style is reactive. Spend first , worry later. Let the future gens take care of the father's sins

You know i am right!

Hyperinflation will follow a country who does not manage its debt properly aka Greece, Zimbabwe

Malaysia looks like heading that way presently. We do not see the gomen having any austerity in its budget.
Infact it is handing out more gifts which are non accretive to its economy. It's like feeding drugs to the the druggies. High for a moment. The Debt hole will get deeper and soon it will be oo slippery to come out form, IF that has not happen yet.
Add corruption to that, the perfect storm beckons.

You are right. Our culture does not indulge in proactive planning. It's all very reactive. May be too late to retriev the sins of our fore fathers..........DEBT. We may be too far down the slippery slope to be able to get back up.

Business leaders urge Coalition to boost infrastructure investment to ward off recession

The Coalition government is being urged to prioritise an ­increase in private and public ­investment and improve business and consumer confidence to stop the domestic economy slumping into recession next year.

Australian business leaders have called on the government to be more proactive fiscal policy managers and consider a stimulus package that centres on infrastructure investment to help ­support the country’s future ­productivity growth.

The mid-year economic and fiscal outlook to be delivered today by Scott Morrison is expected to maintain the Coalition’s promise that the federal government budget will return to surplus by 2021.

Finance minister Mathias ­Cormann yesterday said up to $22 billion worth of budget savings approved by the parliament over the past year would help the ­government’s fiscal management, while the current positive commodities outlook would provide a short-term revenue boost.

However, ratings agencies have warned Australia’s triple-A credit rating is under threat ­because of the ongoing structural budget deficit.

Business leaders have urged the government to spend more to ease the pressure for the Reserve Bank to cut the official cash rate from 1.5 per cent — a generational low.

Tony Shepherd, former Business Council of Australia president and former chairman of the National Commission of Audit, said the government’s budget ­surplus target was ambitious in the current economic climate.

The Australian economy ­contracted by 0.5 per cent in the September quarter and another quarter of negative growth would place it in official recession.

“The government needs to be absolutely open about the challenges Australia faces in both the economy and the budget, the two of them are inextricably linked,” Mr Shepherd said. “As the economy slows down as it has done then private investment reduces, company profits are going to go down, income tax won’t increase, neither will the GST revenue.

“Those factors make getting to a surplus and balancing the ­budget incredibly difficult.”

Andrew Liveris, the global business leader appointed by ­Donald Trump to head his administration’s new Manufacturing Council, last week said he supported greater global public sector investment and that “free markets do not equate with no government intervention”.

“Building integrated industrial sector as based on competitive inputs does need sound policy making in partnership with the private sector,” he told the The Australian.

Mr Shepherd, a key adviser to former prime minister Tony ­Abbott, said the Coalition faced a difficult position in negotiating with the Senate but needed to maintain pushing ahead with its budget savings measures.

“On the expenditure side, they have been tied up with by the opposition and some of the cross benchers in terms of genuine long-term reform,” he said. “Some measures have gone through, but others are waiting in the pipeline.

“If you look where the terms of trades are now, we have low or negative growth you would have to say that the picture … looks more negative than it was at the time of the budget in May.”

Charter Hall chief executive David Harrison said it was vital the government focus on infrastructure investment next year to maintain employment and help drive future productivity growth.

The property sector leader said the Reserve Bank of Australia should not be forced into carrying out all of the “heavy lifting” to keep the economy on track and the government must become more active fiscal managers.

“If we get another quarter of negative growth then technically we are going to be in a recession,” Mr Harrison said. “That could force the RBA to move ... when people see their house values not rising then there could be a need for some stimulatory impact from the RBA, but the government also needs to drive fiscal policy.

“The government needs to drive infrastructure investment which creates and provides jobs and keeps the economy active.”

Mr Harrison said he believed Australian businesses should start increasing current debt levels while interest rates were low to fund projects which would be ­beneficial in the future.

“Most corporate balance sheets are in very good shape; they need to use their capacity to borrow to make investments that will generate future activity,” he said.

“Corporate Australia, I would say, has been in a deliberate do-­little mode since the global financial crisis.

“The rest of the world has been spending but there’s no silver ­bullet here. If there was a simple answer everyone would be doing it.”

Credit ratings agencies have said the Coalition could know ­before the end of this week if the country’s sovereign rating was downgraded because of the ­ongoing budget deficit, which could be as high as $37 billion this financial year.

Mr Shepherd said a ratings downgrade could have costly economic implications, especially if interest rates started to rise in 2017.

“I don’t think for the economy, in the short-term, it would have much of an impact,” he said.

“But it will have a real effect on morale for business investment it’s a negative ... if rates start to go up then the cost of losing the rating is going to become very real.”

Gold dropped in USD terms.

If you had your RInggit in gold, you would be a happy chappie

No....did not say that.

Just saying that although gold is correcting in USD, other gold currencies are "hedged"

We are just accepting ourselves 3rd world or a better name, emerging.

Therefore, we are satisfied compared to 3rd world in all aspects.

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Will ringgit continue to weaken in 2017?
By Supriya Surendran / The Edge Financial Daily | January 3, 2017 : 9:00 AM MYT
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 3, 2017.


KUALA LUMPUR: At 5pm on Dec 30, 2016, the ringgit traded at 4.4862 against the US dollar. Flashback to five years ago: On Dec 30, 2011, the ringgit stood at 3.1680 against the greenback, a 41.6% contrast.

A key factor cited for the ringgit’s weakness in recent weeks has been the surprise win by Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election, which is widely expected to result in changes in America’s economic and trade policies.

But some analysts, like Hong Leong Investment Bank research head Sia Ket Ee, do not think the Trump effect is here to stay.

“We believe that the ringgit will trade at 4.5 against the US dollar in the first quarter of 2017, as we don’t buy into the idea that the [US] dollar’s strength will continue in 2017, as once Trump takes office, there could be some disappointments to [promises made during his presidential campaign],” said Sia.

“Also, we believe the move by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to develop the onshore financial market will help rebuild our reserves. Though the move by BNM has not been popular among exporters in particular, it has helped taper [off] the strength of the US dollar, which means the measure taken by BNM is working,” Sia told The Edge Financial Daily.

BNM in late November announced a series of measures to stabilise the onshore market, which included a requirement for exporters to convert 75% of export proceeds received from Dec 5 into ringgit.

Against the US dollar, the ringgit was the second worst performer in the Asean region in 2016, depreciating by 4.5%, though the ringgit fared better than the Philippine peso which depreciated by 5.7% against the US currency over the same period.

It should be noted that the ringgit’s depreciation was much higher in 2015, when it weakened 22.82% against the greenback compared with 2014, and the ringgit was also the second worst performer in the Asean region that year after Myanmar’s kyat.

The peso only depreciated by 4.9% in 2015. Though the Philippines was grappling with the same issues as Malaysia — Trump and US interest rate movements — the country was dealt with a wild card in 2016, which came in the form of President Rodrigo Duterte, whose controversial statements were said to have an impact on foreign investment in the country.

UOB Malaysia, in its first quarter of 2017 Quarterly Global Outlook Report, opined that the ringgit had been under more pressure compared to its counterparts due to the higher risk premium attached from high foreign holdings of domestic debt securities.

“Malaysia also has lower foreign reserves relative to Thailand and Indonesia,” said UOB. “[We believe] that the latest foreign exchange (forex) measures announced by BNM should help buffer reserves and stabilise the ringgit, which we expect to come in at 4.35 against the US dollar by mid-2017.”

ForexTime Ltd research analyst Lukman Otunuga said the ringgit was more vulnerable to the strengthening of the US dollar compared to its Asean counterparts due to the country’s sensitivity to US interest rates.

“It must be kept in mind that one of the major reasons for the painful declines seen in the ringgit is due to Malaysia’s sensitivity to US rates,” Otunuga said in an emailed response to The Edge Financial Daily.

“Although the nation reaped benefits from the era of ultra-low interest rates a few years back, speculations of higher rates may pressure Malaysian assets which have become very sensitive to when the US Federal Reserve tightens its monetary policy, and such will weaken the ringgit,” he added.

PublicInvest Research, in its first half of 2017 market strategy note, said the ringgit could recover to average between 4.10 and 4.15 for 2017, on improvements in macroeconomic conditions and a reversal of flow back into Malaysia.

“While we are longer term positive on the ringgit, we must acknowledge the fact that foreign holding of domestic debt remains high.

“At [the] last count (November 2016), the number stood at RM181.8 billion in local government debt, RM23 billion in Malaysian Government Investment Issues and [RM16.16 billion] in private-sector debt,” said PublicInvest.

Otunuga said the US dollar will continue to dictate the ringgit’s path in 2017.

“Although Malaysia’s economy continues to display resilience against external headwinds, the [US] dollar could dictate if the ringgit recovers or not in the shorter term.

“As the year comes to an end, technical traders may analyse how the ringgit reacts to the 4.500 resistance [against the greenback], with a breakout above this level paving a path towards 4.600,” he said.

Sounds like the camel's back is breaking!

We will see when the Oz housing is affected or not.

Just goes to show the lack of confidence in the Ringgit

Yeah...hyperinflation is coming soon.
Meals are shrinking in size

USA:MYR seems frozen!

USDX has dropped. Yet MYR has not gained et al.....are we seeing the cliff on the other side?

i am unfortunately or fortunately on eof them. The Aussie has been rather resilient these past months.
{m Sep 2016, when i visited Brisbane it was around 3.05. Now its risen to 3.4
Tough times indeed!