This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 7, 2018

PUTRAJAYA: The cabinet yesterday accepted Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim’s offer to step down as the governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said, adding that a successor has not yet been named.

He also said the government will not announce the names of the potential candidates this week.

“We had an ordinary cabinet meeting today (yesterday). Nothing very much to report except that the governor of BNM has submitted his resignation and the cabinet has accepted it,” he told a press conference after the weekly post-

cabinet meeting yesterday.

“We have not decided on his successor because we need to have the approval from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong before we can announce it,” Dr Mahathir added.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that former deputy BNM governors Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus and Sukhdev Singh are among the candidates being considered to succeed Muhammad.

Nor Shamsiah left BNM after her term ended in November 2016, while Sukhdev stepped down in 2017.

Bloomberg was first to report, quoting sources, that Muhammad had offered to resign from his post.