Foreign banks in Malaysia raise their cost of borrowing

Kuala Lumpur

BORROWING costs are set to rise in Malaysia, with a number of banks having raised their base rates (BR), partly as a result of a liquidity crunch brought about by a shortage of ringgit and US dollars, analysts say.

As of last week, foreign banks including OCBC Bank (Malaysia) and United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) had bumped up their BRs; HSBC Bank Malaysia will make its change on Friday.