Our neighbours across the Causeway now have even more reason to do their shopping here, as the Malaysian Ringgit fell to a new low of 3.0771 against the Singapore dollar early on Thursday.
Hurt by a drop in oil prices and a downgrade on Brazil’s credit rating, which worsened sentiment towards emerging markets, the Ringgit also hit a new 17-year low of around 4.379 to the US dollar earlier on the same day.
On Wednesday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Brazil’s sovereign credit rating to BB+, or one notch below investment grade, sparking a selloff in emerging market assets.
A 3.9% drop in Brent crude overnight also dampened the revenue outlook for Malaysia, Asia’s only major net oil exporter.
The Ringgit is Asia’s worst performing currency.
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