KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The strengthening of the US dollar has so far not affected the government’s revenue and expenditure although food prices, especially the import of seeds and fertilisers have suffered due to the weakness of the ringgit against the currency.
Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the ringgit remained positive against the British pound, Japanese yen and Australian dollar, Chinese yuan and Indonesian rupiah.
“But compared to the (ringgit) falling vs the US dollar, fortunately our exposure to debt based on US dollar is much lower than before and as I mentioned, this US dollar payment includes the debt of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB),” he said during the Minister’s Question Time in Parliament on Tuesday.
Earlier Datuk Ahmad Amzad Mohamed @ Hashim (PN-Kuala Terengganu) had asked the government to state the country’s fiscal strength due to the weakening of the ringgit and solutions to balance the situation.
