Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Malaysians are now currency experts?


Today, the Ringgit breached RM4.00 for a dollar.

When I logged in to my Facebook and Twitter accounts, 9 out of 10 posts that appeared on my timeline were slamming the Government on the Ringgit.

To sum them up, youths who dominate social media today were posting comments as though tomorrow spells the end for Malaysia.

And in just the past month, I saw how Malaysians transform from being constitutional experts, to aviation analysts and now economics.

Some even went as far as pushing the blame on UMNO and Najib. There's this group called Suara Rakyat who likes to say "other countries are doing better because UMNO is not there in their country".

Of course, when you have a narrow, myopic view, you will tend to miss out the fact that over the 5 year period,


•    Russian Roubles lost 114% against USD
•    Indonesian Rupiah lost 51% against USD
•    Indian Rupees lost 38% against USD
•    Norwegian Krone lost 37% against USD
•    Australian Dollars lost 24% against USD
•    Euro lost 20% against USD
•    Thai Baht lost 10% against USD

Do I need to go on?

One of the contributing factors faced by these countries is the drop in oil prices. Crude oil was trading at US$70-80 / bbl few years ago and today it has fallen below US$ 50 per bbl.

Also, US is not our only trading partner and the performance of our Ringgit is not measured against US dollars alone. When we look at the Ringgit, 



•    we strengthened against Canadian Dollars (2%)
•    we strengthened against Indian Rupees (10%)
•    we strengthened against Japanese Yen (14%)
•    we strengthened against Indonesian Rupiah (18%)

I don't need to name more currencies, do I?

Do you know that the value of our trade with India, Japan and Indonesia is close to 20%?

Understandably, we are quick to feed on negative news and quick to comment like an expert on our Facebook and Twitter. That's how things work these days.

Of course, none of you made reference to 1998.

No one remembered the time when the Ringgit crashed to as low as RM4.725 for a dollar on 7 January 1998 (BNM selling rate, over the counter was more than RM4.80).

All of you, who were quick to comment about the state of our economy on your Facebook, were still in school.

So none of you knew, none of you remembered, none of you experienced what happened in 1998 when Anwar Ibrahim was Finance Minister.

Back then

a)    People were losing jobs or had difficulty in getting jobs
b)    Households were squeezed
b)    average lending rate was 12.16%
c)    Inflation was close to 3% without subsidy removals.


If any of you doubt the 2-3% inflation numbers today and felt it is way higher, apply the same thought to 1998-1999.

And yes, average lending rate was over 12%. Those were the days.

You may say it is history and you may continue to slam the Prime Minister, the Central Bank and the Government for today's numbers.

But the next time before you get upset and share your anger on Facebook or Twitter, ask yourself whether or not the Ringgit - Dollar exchange rate affects you, and how.

1.    Do you shop online from US websites?
2.    Are you planning to fly over to US for a holiday?
3.    Are you a Malaysian studying in the US?
4.    Do you import goods to be resold in Malaysia?
5.    Do you buy necessities and food from the US to use here?
6.    Do you at all use the US dollar in your daily life?

Because my dear, only if you answer yes to the above, you are affected. Otherwise, what are you shouting and so worried about?

Your salary is still denominated in Ringgit and you don’t buy necessities with US dollars.

Sure, no one can deny that it has some impact to some segments especially imports and our plans to travel to US, UK etc. I am also of the opinion that there are many things Najib can do (which he isn't at all now) and I will share more soon.

And guys, the international ratings agencies - Fitch, Moody's and S&P - have all maintained Malaysia's outlook as stable. There are no economists out there who are saying that Malaysia's economy will collapse, only politicians are saying this.


PART 2: Read Export-Commodity Prices and Ringgit


66 comments:

Anonymous said...

very well written with facts.. kipidap..

Si Pengeja Hati said...

I agreed with the logic and the idea you try to spark
But
I dont buy it
"20% of our export to India, Japan and Indon"
True... but does the transaction happen in ringgit ?
I dont think so cause i do trade with them and all business transaction are done in Dollar sir.
Yes my salary does not effect by the shrink in ringgit but the commodity price will be affected thus bring effect to my bargaining of power to purchase.
I hope you are the only one who are glad our ringgit perform better than India, Japan and Indonesia cause it will be sad to see this is the result of our education in Malaysia
Have a Good Days Sir and Support Bijan as always....

Anonymous said...

Your first mistake is in assuming that the social media users posting their thoughts on Facebook are youths. When I looked they were mostly people my age in their 40s or 50s who were concerned with the impact this would have on the fees they have to pay to educate their children overseas. Lets talk numbers, since 2000, the MYR has devalued by 100% against the SGD and the BND. I guess ifyou want to attract rreadership its easy to write some half truths but this is gutter journalism in my books. By the way, are you married or do you have dependents studying abroad?

Anonymous said...

you must be those that been paid by Najib or Maslan. Kudos to you! some of those people sharing the currency exchange rate are those that study abroad. that is why they are concerned with the exchange rate. if you really have friends that study abroad. or you haven't have any friends?

Unknown said...

Tq....I wish this can be an eye opener....

jetfire said...

Firstly. We dont want to compare to the currencies we are less using. Second the fact that our currency losing value is because of unstable government that do nothing to the crisis we are heading to but protect the interests of them self.

Baash said...

Agree on most of your points, but as for the last few questions, yes i'm affected 5/6 of the questions. also there is the accounting for that even if salaried workers are the only workers in malaysia, the fact that a corporation who employs the person may and most likely deal in USD, thus if costs go up, there is a tendency that reduction needs to happen, and sadly in malaysia, its usually human resources that gets affected first. i am seeing this first hand, it is happening, and there is no escape from it. is it all the govt's fault? no, of course not, there are as you pointed out external factors, but could the govt do more? of course. perhaps using the money we have in projects to hire malaysians, instead of importing foreign labour. "but foreign labour is cheaper" yes, but they are also a drain on our economy, there's a difference between bring in investors and foreign labor, and i'm sure you also appreciate that. and honestly, we usually dont compare vs USD, for myself i usually use SGD/AUD/EUR more of an index as well, and again, we are falling against those currencies as well. even against the Yen, we are falling. fact is, we as malaysians are in a tight spot, is our economy going to be decimated? of course not, will some segment of society suffer for this, yes, but probably not significant enough for our govt to make any drastic changes. its just going to be a statistical blip, and that is the saddest thing, that we are all just statistics.

Anonymous said...

Eh why not the currency drop more right? 1998 was THE world economic downturn and some of our asian country was deliberatly attacked by economic player. Stop "jilating"

Anonymous said...

Bro... How about SGD? Can u explain more on this? Why is our currency depreciating against SGD? What about import export where almost all are being paid using USD? Construction sector? Help me to understand further. All in all a good write up. Tq

Gayatri said...

Hi thank you for the good post. Well I have not been complaining on Facebook or Twitter saying the ringgit have dropped. I'm a normal citizen who doesn't know much about economics either. I might don't have the rights to criticize but as a sister I might want to say that ringgit dropped does effect my family as my sister is studying at Indonesia and her course fee is calculated in usd. It does effect my family in a way. We as humans never can be satisfied with anything, and as people we tend to see the mistakes more than goodness. But most of us are in such a way isn't it? I'm not sure what the government is upto, so do our leaders. But I wish we can have a better nation. With everyone's support. I wish if there are really corruption, our politicians could look into it and correct it as it involves a whole country not a single person. And as citizens we could give hands to those prominent leaders right.

Salim said...

Salam...

How about things that daily consume....imported foods...spare part...etc.
Does it not affected the purchasing value against RM.....

rus said...

"we" know , thats why nazri said he was happy with it...

ShinjiHikaru said...

Taken Comments from someone in GLC

While the writer pointed out we marhaen citizens seldom buying from the United States, in dealing practices between countries, we are using USD.

I've been doing tenders with Petronas and stuffs. When we buy stuffs from outside, we use dollars. Purchase Orders from HK or Taiwan or China are usually in USD. Heck, developing countries like Cambodia or Laos prefers USD.

It certainly not affecting directly to the citizens but in turn, companies will have problems, projects becoming stagnant, workers being lay offs and these will lead to unemployment. Then? You can guess.

Anonymous said...

Your comments on currency is "bullshit". We don't compare currency in the way we do hear. Currency drop drastically due to economic and perception. You better monitor the currency trade and get their feedback for the factual reasons. You know what is the problem and why investors are shying away.

Anonymous said...

This article is stupid. You conveniently ignore the fact that our shopping baskets will cost more due to imported raw materials and machinery. You also left out EURO & Pound Sterling. Nanti sakit nap beli bat pun mahal ... kete rosak nap tucker spare part pun mahal ... dah lah kena gst .... Typical gomen licker you are ... Shame on you

TST said...

compare apple with apple pls.
I dont live in Russia.
and I do shopping online.

Unknown said...

Hmm, you do know we import a lot of goods from other countries right (as today, our globe is "flat")? And USD is the primary currency to trade goods and services between countries. Hence, our purchasing power will still be diminished.
Still, why compare ourselves with currencies that are depreciating?
Nevertheless, the gist is that our government is affecting the sentiment and expectations of investors in a way that causes the Ringgit to depreciate.
However, if in any case, the Ringgit will depreciate (to the current status) even without the occurrence of recent political events, then your criticism is somewhat fair.

Unknown said...

Hmm, you do know we import a lot of goods from other countries right (as today, our globe is "flat")? And USD is the primary currency to trade goods and services between countries. Hence, our purchasing power will still be diminished.
Still, why compare ourselves with currencies that are depreciating?
Nevertheless, the gist is that our government is affecting the sentiment and expectations of investors in a way that causes the Ringgit to depreciate.
However, if in any case, the Ringgit will depreciate (to the current status) even without the occurrence of recent political events, then your criticism is somewhat fair.

Anonymous said...

I'm a parent with a daughter studying in the States. Earlier on I would send her RM1600 worth of USD to her. Now it is coming up to RM2000 for the same amount of USD. What is government going to do about the downward spiral of the ringgit?

Anonymous said...

As if we produced all the goods locally. Theres nothing wrong in discussing about the currency drop unless u r ignorant bustard who dont really care about what happening around u. At least people are aware about what happened to their beloved country.

Zidane said...

such shallow opinion, you have no idea how much of our daily stuff involve in USD. So narrow minded that you think only traders that import goods affected from the USD rising. Most of our goods, are related to USD because there are so many component or raw material of a lot of goods are not from Malaysia, even those made in malaysia goods. Yes, there are made in Malaysia, but how about the raw material and components that our local market are not able to provide. These happen in many industry including manufacturing sector, technology sector, food and beverage sector. Eventually, most of us will be suffering from price hike of almost everything. And the worse part is, spending power lowered, company not getting better business, company cut cost by axing employees or stop recruit new staff, citizen suffers from unemployment or low-salary, orang tak boleh makan, robbery case increase, chaos in the city, foreign investment stop investing in our country, country bankrupt.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, much like a person living in the jungle who grows his own vegetables and hunt for fish wouldn't be affected by anything happening in the city at all.

We live in the city.

There are many multinational companies in MY, and when these companies cut jobs, or decide to say bye bye to MY, then you go back, and read your own post, and see whether or not your piece of your mind was an intelligible one.

The concern is, when would these companies decide to bail? If they do in the masses, we are doomed.

Think of it like a round-about dead lock. Imagine getting caught in a heavy traffic at a round-about. At first you wouldn't really feel it. Then it slows down. And then, suddenly, the chain reaction causes a major dead lock.

If you cannot brain that, think of it like blowing a balloon. You blow blow blow, do you know when it will go boom? You don't know, and you kept on blowing it till it reaches its maximum threshold, and suddenly, it goes boom.

I can give you many more examples. But I think I wouldn't wanna waste anymore time replying to your blog Mr. Goh Wei Liang, or whoever you are.

Yeah free speech is fine. It is fine to share your thoughts and opinion.

But let me share my thoughts & opinion on you:

You BODOH la! Betul Betul BODOH LA! Haih!

Anonymous said...

Why don't we compare the ringgit against the Zimbabwean dollars while you're at it. I think your're
missing the point. Its the speed of the drop of the ringgit that's being felt by many affecting the confidence of the people more so
than their actual pockets at this point.

Barry said...

Lots of things to pick apart in your post, but I'll take the easiest: you write a lot about trade etc with the US. You should note that the yuan also tracks the USD.

Faiz said...

I could disagree about the people who are affected are only those who you listed. Unfortunately even you might not directly involve in micro-transaction (shop-consumers), you will definitely see item price increases.

You do not really need to directly purchase anything from US to be affected. Manufactures, company uses website like alibaba to get their source. These are one of the main platforms of importing and it mainly uses USD.

Its a chain of reaction. Macro transaction involves USD which then affect micro transaction. That's one of the reason why you have recession because the money value is not worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHe0bXAIuk0

Anonymous said...

or may be you're more clever than TF of Air Asia

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/308283

Sam said...

What an asshole. Almost all import export around the world is done in US currency and the effect of the depreciating ringgit WILL eventually be passed down to the consumers. Foreign companies will leave the country so will investors which will cause us to lose jobs etc.

Hampir semua Impot dan Expot dibuat dalam matawang USD. Tiap-tiap barang yang dibawa masuk kedalam negara ini akan naik harga kerana kesan nilai MYR yang jatuh akan disalurkan kepada pengguna.

Malaysia mengimpot barang-barang keperluan seperti: Petrol, Besi, Peralatan Elektronik, Mesin-mesin, bahan-bahan kimia, makanan yang diproses dsb.

Ncjing said...

I'm sorry to say this but I find your article to be ironically, in your own words "narrow, (and) myopic", also slightly sarcastic if I might add. All these analyses on the effects and current situation doesn't really do anything to explain the underlying reason why MYR is the worst performing currency in the S.E.A region.

But never mind, leave out the "Why" and I still find your points to be irrelevant. It doesn't matter how ringgit has appreciated compared to other currencies because USD in particular is the preferred currency of exchange. The company I work for deals with international sea trade and each point of depreciation in MYR against USD is in effect a real decrease in profit margins. Frankly I don't see the point in comparing MYR against other currencies when in fact, the fall in MYR vs USD is the one in question.

But that isn't my main point either, I guess each person has the right to voice their concerns, and its neither your or my right to downplay their comments. I think in exact opposite of your point; I think its because everyone remembers the 1997 crisis thus the fall in ringgit reminds them of the hardships of the economic crisis. I also think it's a good thing that young people share and discuss topics like these because it shows, we're not all ignorant about what's going on around us.

It would be better if you had used your analytical skills to steer readers' to adopt a more positive view in the midst of all this mess.

Unknown said...

Cant wait for your next post. I am a business woman that deals with italy (basically in euro), oky i am a noob business person, worried that the current rising euro rate will continue on...

Btw, how long do you think this economic condition will keep going on?

Muhammad Fahmi Shah said...

Thank you, this is a well-written explanation.

Anonymous said...

Apa ke bodoh kau ni?
Sembang kencang.
Segala benda, segala bahan, minyak ke, plastik ke, elekteonik ke, software ke, tahi ke, kalau kita nk kena i port dwri luar negara, x kesah la dr US ke, arab ke, china ke, jepang ke, semuanya guna USD. Kos hidup akan makin tinggi, segala benda akan makin mahal. Even nk buat loan rumah pon, BLR dhcecah 6% plus. Jangan nak bodohkan orang dengan sembang kencang kau.

Anonymous said...

Hello. Definitely a good insight on the issue being held around. I have one question to ask though. How is the currency going to effect the business that we have now with say, US? or any other country?

Would really appreciate for your kind revert.

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Well if you started to actually take your head out of the pot, you might realise that it effects industries and individuals like me who does foreign trades. Yes, we do incur losses once USD goes up and RM weakens.

I'm not sure what you do for a living, but maybe 1 day when you do grow up and stop trying to seek attention to yourself by writing garbage like this, you might realise that not all individuals sits behind a computer and write garbage but instead we do a real job by doing international trades.

Joanne said...

I guess the currency drop does not affect you because it does affect me. I don't know but do you know in what currency are we trading with Indonesia, india and japan? Japan maybe Yen, but Indonesia and India definitely USD.

How many Malaysian are exporters? Only when we are exporters will we be benefiting from this kind of currency. But a lot of small business in Malaysia are importers. With this kind of currency exchange, things are bound to increase in prices. EVen for medicine, I bought Clarinase at RM5.00 more expensive than three months ago. That's 30% increase!! and this is just a flu medicine. Imagine all the other medicine that we are importing by using USD, how much more stress are they. Even though we are not currency experts, but yes! we are affected.
Yes our(Malaysia) economic fundamentals are good, we know they are good because Fitch did not downgrading us in the last review because of GST and Fuel subsidi abolished, but at the state of the political instability, I hope they don't downgrade us in the next review.

Another thing to think about, when US Feds increase rate, will the FDI be reduced? and also our foreign reserves, It drops like crazy.

I never posted on social media about our currency, but by putting those two charts out, it's just giving others a misrepresentation.
USD is strengthening and it will continue to strenghthen because of the end of QE and Euro just started. but let's just compare MYR to SGD. why is SGD not depreciating at the same rate as RM? Because of good governance.

I don't mind paying GST and taxes if the money is accountable, but the situations is just leading us to believe that most of it is not.

Anonymous said...

To be fair to your post, all true and every word of your post has a very sensible rationale behind it.

However let me just enlarge our scope of discussion. This is mainly due to your argument focusing on foreign exchange rate as the basis that we should not consider our economy to be unstable and heading (potentially) towards a crisis. Do you know that besides our foreign exchange rate (which has depreciated against 20+ currencies instead of just the US, and certainly more than the ones listed in your post) our equity and fixed income market have also took a large hit?

Market perception and investor sentiment are king no matter in which financial market in the world. Fundamentals will pullback and correct the market, however short term market outlook is what drives an economy to potential financial crisis.

Our equity in the last week alone has dropped by 10% of the market capitalization, wiping out the value of companies. Fear of a bond selldown in the fix income market is currently pegging Malaysia, as national debt will escalate to such high levels that we would have no means of repaying any of our debt (our currency no longer has the same value).

I could go one so much more about what will happen about our economy and the potential impacts but I'm going to stop here as I have to go for dinner. You cannot deny that our government is corrupt (by international standards and views) , the PM is a narcissistic fool that do not know how to rule a country (he has not even come out to calm the situation and assure international investors, strong leaders should be able to do at least that), and etc.

TBC.

Anonymous said...

Can you do a similar statistic over the period of 1 month? I would be interested to know how the ringgit fared with other countries. Statistic can be easily manipulated to what I believe "you want to see". Goh, I believe you are truly biased and if you are condemning the people for having a sudden interest in economics, why do I not see any opinions from you in regards to the donations and current political issues? Why select your battle rather than confront every battle?

Anonymous said...

A lot of stuff are coming from us because they owned quite a lot of companies. such as electronic devices, laptop, and a lot of thing. when ringgit fall, the price for all this stuff will increase. This will effect a lot of people that studying in universities because technology already be a companion to do assignment,project and others.
Book for revision, legal software such autocad, adobe, creo, mathlab, laptop and pc.

Anonymous said...

A lot of stuff are coming from us because they owned quite a lot of companies. such as electronic devices, laptop, and a lot of thing. when ringgit fall, the price for all this stuff will increase. This will effect a lot of people that studying in universities because technology already be a companion to do assignment,project and others.
Book for revision, legal software such autocad, adobe, creo, mathlab, laptop and pc.

Valiant David said...

Good read. You certainly have valid points there! The decrease in value of RM also contributes to increase in export and tourist from countries with higher monetary value such as USA due to 'kos lebih rendah' factor and quality in our service.

einnos said...

People complained bcoz price of goods increased tremendously, which are due to tremendous drop in ringgit value against dollar.I believe with your expertise in currenxy and economics, you will know that the world's trade currency is majoritily USD. All other currencies are irrelevant to cost of imported goods. As you rightly pointed out, you will be affected by other currencies if you spend in that countries, whether gain or lose. So in layman term;

Ringgit shrink -> imported goods and ingredients price rise -> living expenses rise -> disposable income shrink -> affordability shrink -> quality of life deteriorate -> people suffer -> people angry.

Hope you learn something about economics from my 2cents

stefan ho.s.k said...

i was saying to a friend about fb suddenly filled with economists then ur post popped out and i laughed like nobody biz. and thanks for the post. :D

Unknown said...

As a matter of fact, I do shop from US websites since a lot of products I use and want aren't available in the country, so yeah it does affect me.

Anonymous said...

Many of the imports are based on usd. Example, You import from China? They trade on usd.

Anonymous said...

Sure, our salary and transactions on dsiky basis in still in ringgit. But the reason why we worry that the while rate is getting higher hy each day is because it's still affecting us. Like a domino.

Because Malaysia don't just produce goods to be used only within the country.

Malaysia exports. And at the same time Malaysia imports.

And these business is using a standard currency for rate exchange purposes, and that is USD, not Renminbi.

If the rate gets higher, we have to pay more unnecessarily. It's a fact, because it's a domino effect that consumers have to pay the extra costs. Through GST and other taxes/hidden costs.

And it's the reason why Thailand collapsed so badly during the last economic crash 98, as they float their currency and back it up to USD.

Similar effect.

And seems like there's any implication that anwar is the fault during the last economic crash as he was MOF at the time. While the fact was due to a number of big players short selling some big stocks, causing the county unable to keep up. And you guessed it, Soros join the bandwagon too, as he did to Britain, 1980.

Hence the new policy regarding short selling for stocks.

Not because MOF at the time. And in any case, Tun M and Tun Daim did their heroic attempts to fix the currency so that USD =RM3.80. Instead of RM4.70

Well,did the current MOF do the same thing? Or just let the rate float away like into the river (of hell) and enjoying his RM2.6b donation? He is the only PM ever have made Malaysian debt worst.

And the reason why this happens (and why we worry) is because FDI confidence to our country is dwindling. Have you seen reports of so many factories are closing, ppl are losing jobs, and not to mention the price of goods and crime rates skyrocketing?

Do we have to only eat potatoes and cook nasi goreng GST on daily basis? Even diapers have GST.

Please don't make superficial generalization saying we don't all travel abroad, shopping with usd dollars and yada yada yada. And when making conclusion, please consider unprivileged ppl that have to spare their hard earned cash just for GST.

Anonymous said...

so now we trade oil in what currency? is it in Malaysian ringgit? or japanese Yen? so what will happen if we buy a crude oil at price of 50usd/barrel? before this it only cost around 175ringgit/barrel(roughly), at this time it may cost 200ringgit/barrel. so does it will affect malaysian economy? I will say it does. ~~A 4 ringgit thought from a person who do not has any basic on economy studies.

Unknown said...

But most of the private companies are dealing with foreign companies and using USD as their business payment arrangement. Higher rates, higher cost. Higher cost, less profits. Less profits or if there is a profit, what would happen to the employees? And i think that's what you didn't take into consideration.

Anonymous said...

sorry but what is the point of this article again? ringgit weakened against us dollar but it is still stable? and we are doing better than few other countries? so keep calm? najib scandal doesnt really affect the numbers? not even slight? although he could have done something? so dont blame/slam him because anuar did worse back in 1998? so what happened to the debt spike exponentially after najib taken over the throne compared to when anuar was finance minister? because i honestly think anuar did good back then despite the asian financial crisis. as an ordinary malaysian i cant think anyone can do worse than najib as finance minister. few hundreds billion debt, enlighten me whether economy "will not collapse" or "will collapse but just not yet"? if economy will collapse in time, then there is nothing wrong trying to be "economics"

Anonymous said...

Why want to compare to non-dominant currencies like Rupiah and Rupees. Look at the big picture, these days it's all about Dollars and Pound Sterling. Its a fact, our ringgit is falling waay behind. I'm staying in the UK; hence feeling the agony.

Anonymous said...

You should take a look at performance past 1 or 2 years, instead of 5 years

Anonymous said...

There you go the new economy expert.

Unknown said...

Hopefully, Malaysian government knows how to use this situation to helps their manufacturing industry...

Unknown said...

Hopefully, the Malaysian government knows how to helps its manufacturing industry to take advantage of this situation...

Anonymous said...

To answer those question's you posted :
1. Do you shop online from US websites? Yes I am and will always be, not just American stuff but also Taiwan and China, especially I.T related item's.

2. Are you planning to fly over to US for a holiday? Unfortunately, YES ! I'm having a second thought's about spending my family vacation in San Diego, California now knowing this currency exchange rate is going to happen.

3. Are you a Malaysian studying in the US? Fortunately, no ! I got my degree in I.T in some local University here in my hometown, but unfortunately though, I had planned to pursue my master's degree in Massachusetts, but now it seem's like that I had to veer my dream study's in America to Australia thanks to our P.M. Malaysia Boleh !

4. Do you import goods to be resold in Malaysia? Depends on the situation since working in I.T field do require parts that are being made in America for instance Microsoft Office or Windows Operating System, plus networking technologies are being made possible by company such as Cisco and Juniper. But I do imports good from America to be resold here in Malaysia if that can answer your questions.

5. Do you buy necessities and food from the US to use here? I'm a Muslim therefore food products must be from Halal source's.

6. Do you at all use the US dollar in your daily life? Not me, but for my brothers and sisters who staying state side either studying or working there.

So the real question is ? Don't we all affected either directly or indirectly to the Dollar Rise against Malaysian Ringgit ? That's the real question you should ask yourself.

Anonymous said...

I use USD for importing materials for my business and hell I care about other currencies.

jsm269 said...

Thank you for this!! I'm about ready to lose my heads when I see my friends slam the government and the government alone over the Ringgit-Dollar exchange rate. It's been a while since the bubble burst so economists have been expecting this and those who understands, knows. I suspect the Ringgit would go even lower.

But all we ever read about nowadays is how we are "doomed" because of Najib.

Anonymous said...

Yes, i do that most of the time.. So yeah im affected..

Anonymous said...

1.Not only crude oil but also some other commodities such as rubber physical price, palm oil and ect. D current political situation is not giving major impact on d depreciation of ringgit today!
2.US is not only our trading partner. Our major trading partners For export r singapore (14%), china (13%), japan (11%), US (8%) and thailand (6%). our major trading partners for import are china (16%), singapore (12%), japan (9%), US (8%) and thailand (6%). 1) US top 5 trading partner for import n export. 2) even though 92% of our trading partners are not from US, but we still use USD in most of our international transaction. To date, These r the top 5 currency used as world payment USD (45%), EURO (28%), Pound (8%), yen (3%) and rmb (2%). I share u one real experiance dealing with international business in d real world. I had made a pyment to d singaporean n they JUST only accept USD!!! Not even Ringgit or Sing Dollar! One more thing, our openness index is recorded at 1.7 in 2014. Meaning, we r a small open economy which rely much on international trade to accumulate national wealth ( index value greater than 1).Can u imagine how shocked is our domestic economy when our Ringgit is suddenly depreciated? How can it harm our economy if our Ringgit keep on depreciating?

Anonymous said...

This article is meaningless and oh.. terribly written.
The fact is Ringgit is dropping and as compared with singapore and brunei, it is weakening day by day and this is the fact.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Goh,

I'm grateful you pointed out that Malaysia is not doing as bad as it was at 1998. I'm pretty sure no one would want that state of Malaysia.

Please understand that people who are not affected don't give a shit about how MYR is performing. So before you decide to slam those people who you assumed to be unaffected by the performance of MYR, think again.

I'm pretty sure you are good at economics. Simple market analysis will give you enough information that most, if not all Malaysian are affected by the increasing prices/cost in imported raw materials and goods. Put it simply for you, have a ringgit today which can purchase 10 candies, heck tomorrow you can only get 9 of them, and you say you are not affected? Maybe Richtards don't give a shit.

Best regards,
Concerned citizen

Anonymous said...

Guys, yes some of us affected by the MYR dropped against USD. Yes our Government could do better (perhaps). But you have to face reality. Its not our nation affected only. USD is stronger and we were not like Singapore whose depending much on US. Then stop spreading your selfishness.

Anonymous said...

You dont even know economy. You the one who were being a keyboard warrior.

Unknown said...

I am in the USA now but spending RM here daily, the RM is dropping since last year September until today!!! It is dropping every day, is that crazy, what's wrong with our RM!!? Because of all the unstable political situation, corruption and so on. If we don't blame the government then blame who??? You???

You were analyzing the the currency between countries and assume that Malaysia is safe even our currency falls because we don't buy goods direct from America. But friend, let me tell you, all international trade is dealing with US$ even we our goods are 20% imported from Japan, India and so on. US$ is a international trade currency, even if you buy goods from China, you assume China will deal with us in RM!!?

Your view is too shallow in this topic, if you really know some knowledge of it...you will like us, feel very scary with the current situation of our Malaysia currency.

Anonymous said...

Some people are saying abt economic bubble burst. Yes I agree it does happen. But it's basic economy. When government is running budget deficit and when there is political instability sparked by world wide controversies, how can we be so optimistic that the RM will prosper?

Anonymous said...

gosh, we trade mostly in USD that is why most currency are measured against USD. i have a small business and my supplier is from china and indonesia, and all the transaction is in USD. not in renminbi or Rupiah. do you know how much it hurt my business when ringgit weaken against USD? operation cost jump from RM 32k to RM 40k. so, i increase my price, and now the client is making noise. so how? is it my fault the cost of operation increase?

Anonymous said...

Eh if next time you say Malaysians cannot comment on currency because we not currency expert, if you fucking got fever, don't eat Panadol, coz you not doctor ma.

Your car knock don't conclude accident, coz you not mechanic kan?
Someone slap you, you don't retaliate.You not MMA fighter right?

Common sense la cibai. It's called common sense.

Don't need a qualification to comment on something if it affects you.You don't have a biology degree majoring in reproductive science but you know how to fuck, correct not?

Anonymous said...

Hi, pls get your facts right before you start writing on blogs... I have been trading for a long time now.... We trade in usd friend. Any way good effort.