KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — The Malaysian currency is expected to weaken further against the US dollar this year and the next due to the extended tariff war between the US and China, Fitch Solutions Macro Research said in a report today.

The Fitch Ratings subsidiary projected conditions to worsen for the ringgit in 2020 when it will average out to 4.25 versus the greenback before recovering to 4.20 a year later.

“Overall, our view for the ringgit to remain range-bound between MYR4.05/USD and MYR4.20/USD, and for it to average MYR4.15/USD in 2019 has held up well since our last update, with the year-to-date average coming in at MYR4.13/USD as of September 23. 

“We still see little upside potential to US-China trade relations over the coming months and therefore, maintain our 2019 average forecast at MYR4.15/USD,” it said.

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The research house also predicted the ongoing tariff war between the two economic powers to last at least until before the 2020 US presidential election.

The ringgit is currently trading around 4.19 to the dollar.