KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Malaysia left its key interest rate unchanged for a fourth straight meeting as a weakening currency reduces scope for the central bank to join global counterparts in monetary easing.

Bank Negara Malaysia kept the overnight policy rate at 3.25 per cent, it said in a statement here today. The decision was predicted by all 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The Malaysian ringgit is Asia’s worst-performing currency in the past six months as a slump in crude prices spurred investor concern the oil-exporter’s finances will be hurt. With above-5 per cent growth and inflation at the slowest since 2009, Bank Negara won’t be in any hurry to join more than a dozen central banks adding stimulus so far this year, analysts said.

“The risk between growth, inflation and financial stability, they are all finely balanced,” Weiwen Ng, a Singapore-based analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, said before the decision. “The base case is for Bank Negara to remain on hold for the rest of 2015.”

The ringgit fell to a six-year low today, extending the drop in the past six months against the US dollar to about 13 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency is undervalued and should return to its fundamentals, central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said last month.

Bank Negara raised the benchmark rate in July after growth quickened and as it sought to curb the risk of financial imbalances. Bond investors, who have been pricing in another increase, are now paring previous bets for higher rates.

Remains accommodative

“At the current level of the overnight policy rate, the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative and supportive of economic activity,” the central bank said in the statement. “The Monetary Policy Committee will continue to carefully assess external and domestic developments and their implications on the risks to inflation and on the Malaysian economy.”

The inflation rate was 1 per cent in January after the government lowered gasoline prices to reflect falling global crude costs. While economic growth unexpectedly quickened last quarter on private consumption and investment, the government has lowered its expansion forecast for this year as it cuts expenditure amid lower expected revenue from oil.

Price pressures remain. A new consumption tax of 6 per cent is set to start in April, while the abolishment of fuel subsidies means consumers will pay more at the pump when crude prices rise. That happened this month when the government raised the price of the widely-used RON95 grade of petrol by 15 per cent after cuts in January and February.

Malaysia’s growth is expected to slow to 4.8 per cent this year, while inflation will probably quicken slightly as a result of an end to fuel subsidies, the introduction of the consumption tax and exchange rate depreciation, the International Monetary Fund said this week. The economy expanded 6 per cent last year. — Bloomberg