KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz says the ringgit is currently undervalued, and expects the currency to reflect the country's underlying fundamentals over time.

"At this point, the fundamentals manifest themselves in steady growth in the region of 5%," she told reporters at the launch of Maybank Islamic Shariah Centre of Excellence this afternoon.

"The current monetary policy is accommodative and remains so at this point in time. We will continue to evaluate the risks to inflation and growth," she added.

On inflation, Zeta said that while inflation was slightly lower, there was no concern of it dipping into negative territory.

However, it was not clear if she was referring to February inflation or to the full year inflation forecast.

BNM is expected to release its Consumer Price Index (CPI) forecast together with its annual report on March 11.

As for Malaysia's sovereign debt rating, Zeti said she hoped for a fair assessment by rating agencies, based on Malaysia's strong underlying fundamentals.

"We have a strong financial system, the economy is on a steady growth path, there is a current account surplus, low levels of unemployment, lower level of external debt and higher level of reserves," she said.