KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — Malaysia’s central bank is expected to keep interest rates on hold when it meets tomorrow, a Reuters poll showed, as the economy weathers a plunge in the ringgit, low commodity export prices, and a political scandal that has hurt investor sentiment.

Economists surveyed by Reuters were unanimous in their forecasts for Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to keep its overnight policy rate unchanged at 3.25 per cent.

“BNM is walking on a tightrope with its monetary policy,” said Irvin Seah, economist at DBS Bank.

The ringgit has lost 18 per cent of its value this year, and is emerging Asia’s worst performing currency, dropping to 17-year lows. After a year-long decline, the ringgit was showing some signs of stabilising, trading at 4.2670 today afternoon.

“The best is not to do anything,” Wan Suhaimie Wan Saidie, economist at Kenanga Investment Bank, commented on the central bank’s policy options.

Embroiled in a multi-billion dollar scandal involving an indebted state fund and investigations into deposits made into his own account, Prime Minister Najib Razak delivered an annual budget last month that could shore up some support among voters.

Malaysia is targeting growth of between 4 to 5 per cent in 2016, down from 4.5 to 5.5 per cent this year.

Wan Suhaimie said that any adjustment to interest rates could cause misalignments that would impact growth prospects.

Encouragingly, exports picked up from June onwards, after suffering a decline in the first half of the year.

Malaysia’s exporters have been hit by weakening demand from China, though sustained buying from the United States and Europe, particularly for electrical and electronic goods, provided some relief.

A manufacturers survey showed that Malaysia’s production contracted for a sevnth straight month in October, due to soaring raw material costs and slow new work orders. — Reuters