GEORGE TOWN, Dec 21 — Bank Negara Malaysia has been told to review its new policy requiring exporters to convert 75 per cent of their foreign currency proceeds into ringgit, following Penang’s fears of falling foreign direct investment.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said multinational companies based in the state have submitted complaints against the policy.

"This policy may even affect foreign direct investments into the country next year,” Lim told a brief press conference at his office today.

He was referring to the central bank's policy introduced on December 5 requiring all exporters to convert three quarters of their export proceeds into ringgit.

The measure was meant to stabilise the country's flagging currency.

"This new policy has affected investors' confidence in investing here and we are concerned that it may affect investments being brought into the country,” Lim said.

He appealed to Bank Negara and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to review the policy or remove it entirely.

"We hope the policy can be removed or if they don't want to remove it, reduce it to 25 per cent instead of 75 per cent,” he said.

He believed that the policy will not be able to strengthen the ringgit.

Lim said the state exco discussed this new policy by Bank Negara and decided to forward the concerns raised by multinational companies to Putrajaya.