Malaysia Interest Rates (MY)

By: EconomyWatch Content   Date: 3 November 2009

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Malaysia is an emerging market, along with the Indian, Chinese and Brazilian economies. The past three decades saw a rapid growth of the Malaysian market from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing based one. In particular, state policy encouraged investment in export industries, the real estate sector and capital intensive infrastructure. Till the mid-90s, Malaysia was the leading economy, along with Singapore, in South East Asia.  After that, with increasing budget deficits, owing to the interference from the public sector, led to a massive market crash, which snowballed to the Thai and Singapore economies as well.

After the Asian crisis of 1997, financial standardization, economic diversification, deregulation and financial liberalization, all helped to correct this problem, transforming the country into a middle-income emerging market. Malaysia exhibited strong economic performance, real GDP growth averaged 8.5% a year, unemployment was below 3%, prices and the exchange rate remained stable and international reserves remained high.

Malaysia Interest Rates (MY): Movements in Interest Rates

In Jan 2008, the Malaysian central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), cut its Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) by 75 basis points against all speculations. There was a similar cut in November 2007 by the bank. Over a period of three years from Nov 2005 to Nov 2008, BNM has been cutting down the basis points on a regular basis.

In 2004, BNM changed its interest rate framework and adopted the OPR, set at 2.7% as the key rate.

The Base Lending Rate (BLR) in Malaysia reached its peak at 12.27% in 1998 and the lowest it ever fell to was 6%. The average BLR in Malaysia is around 8.1%. In 2008, the BLR was at 6.5% and according to financial experts, the rate is expected to fall in 2009.

Malaysia Interest Rates (MY): Credit Cards

Malaysian credit cards come with a low interest rate of 13.5% for tier 1 cardholders. The interest rate was dropped from 15% by the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) on March 31, 2009.

Bank Negara Malaysia has revised the tiered interest rates to reward those who pay their credit card bills promptly. The interest can be reduced from the standard 17.5% per year to 13.5% per year by paying the bills promptly for 12 consecutive months.

If there are no payment delays for 12 months in a row, low interest rates can be enjoyed on the 13th month. For those who pay promptly for at least 10 out of the 12 months, a lower interest of 16% per year is available.


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