BNM not concerned over CDS traders' possible downgrade, say Zeti

Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said the "junk status" is only how the market tells their story and a similar thing occurred during the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis.

"However, a year after the financial crisis, we managed to prove to the world what can we do.

"We have to be firm so investors will look at how we assess the situation," she told reporters after launching the Financial LATeracy Exhibition at BNM Museum and Art Gallery here, today.

Standard & Poor’s has an A stable rating for Malaysia while Fitch Ratings upgraded its ratings to A stable.

The ringgit is pressured by highly volatile global developments in the United States, China and the Middle East.

At 5pm today, the ringgit was quoted at 4.4160/4240 versus the US dollar.

"The important thing is for the economy to have the strength and resilience to ride it out.

"However, we are not facing any pressure to increase interest rates as the current level is accommodative and supportive of economic activities," she said, reiterating BNM's GDP growth outlook of 4.5-5 per cent for 2015.

In the latest monetary policy statement, the Central Bank decided to maintain the overnight policy rate at 3.25 per cent.

Zeti said the central bank was seeing steady growth in credit, which meant that the challenging environment has not hampered borrowings from the financial system to support businesses especially for small and medium enterprises which have been experiencing double-digit growth.

She also said it would not be possible to fix the exchange rate given the highly dynamic environment.