KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 23): Malaysia’s ringgit dropped for a third day and is Asia’s worst-performing currency this month on concern the plunge in crude oil prices will hurt government revenue.

The oil-exporting nation could be the worst affected in the region, Ritesh Maheshwari, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s, said in a Bloomberg TV interview from Hong Kong today.

Iraq, OPEC’s number two producer, plans to boost production next year while Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates reiterated pledges to keep pumping the same amount of crude yesterday. Malaysia’s foreign reserves fell to the lowest level since March 2011 as of Dec. 15, central bank figures showed, indicating the monetary authority may have intervened to stem the ringgit’s slide.

“There is renewed concern that oil prices may fall further given the OPEC members’ commitment yesterday,” said Vishnu Varathan, an economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “That is why it’s hard for the ringgit to stage a durable rally. The nation’s falling reserves also don’t help.”

The ringgit retreated 0.3 percent to 3.4975 a dollar as of 11:10 a.m. in Kuala Lumpur, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency dropped to a five-year low of 3.5073 on Dec. 8. and is down 3.3 percent this month.

Brent crude has fallen about 16 percent since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries chose to maintain a production target at a Nov. 27 meeting and is 47 percent off 2014’s peak reached in June.

Malaysia’s foreign reserves dropped to $120.7 billion from $125.7 billion at the end of November. The decline is probably a function of the central bank’s attempts to smooth out excessive ringgit weakness sparked by falling oil prices, said Sim Moh Siong, a currency strategist at Bank of Singapore Ltd.

Ten-year government bonds rose for a fifth day. The yield on the 4.181 percent notes decreased four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 4.14 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The rate has dropped 14 basis points since Dec. 16.