Malaysia's central bank offers bigger room to hedge

Kuala Lumpur

THE Malaysian central bank has decided to allow exporters to retain up to a quarter of their export proceeds in foreign currencies, and will provide for higher returns for ringgit-export proceeds that are kept in a special deposit facility.

This is all part of a drive by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to deepen Malaysia's financial markets, particularly liquidity in the foreign-exchange (FX) market.