KUALA LUMPUR: The possibility of one individual influencing the ringgit is very small as the average daily market transaction is huge, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is the Finance Minister.

“The average daily market activity is huge — it amounted to US$11.8 billion in 2014. Thus, based on such a huge amount of transactions, the possibility of any [single] individual influencing the ringgit is very small,” said Najib in a written reply yesterday to a question from the DAP’s Segambut Member of Parliament Lim Lip Eng last Thursday.

Lim asked about the status of investigations into The Edge Media Group owner Datuk Tong Kooi Ong, who was alleged by anonymous blogs in January to have manipulated the currency for his own gain and to sabotage the national economy. Lim also asked who was behind the blogs.

Najib’s reply did not specifically mention Tong nor did he answer the question of who was behind the blogs.

The blogs claimed that Tong had taken a US$1.4 billion short position on the ringgit through a proxy in transactions from August last year to January this year. 

Tong, who is executive chairman of The Edge Media Group, denied the allegations in several press statements issued in February.

Yesterday, Najib said based on the ringgit’s current movement, the national economy has not been affected by any monetary or economic sabotage, and the country remains on track for sustainable growth, supported by strong fundamentals, controlled inflation rate and high international reserves.

“In addition, the regulators, including Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), are always carefully monitoring any actions that could sabotage the national economy,” he said.

Najib attributed the recent weakening of the ringgit to external factors, primarily the strengthening of the US economy.

He noted that the ringgit was not the only currency affected and that other currencies in the region had also contracted between 1.1% and 10.1% against the US dollar between September 2014 and March 5, 2015.

The strong US dollar is due to the improving economic prospects in the United States and expectations of an interest rate hike there, which has attracted the interest of investors to US-dollar assets.

“Besides, commodity exporters, including Malaysia, are also impacted by the fall of the world crude oil price,” Najib explained.

He said in monitoring the currency movement, the government, through BNM, is always watchful of activities that could affect the foreign exchange market to ensure that the ringgit is not open to speculation.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 17, 2015.