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KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 (Bernama) — The ringgit ended at a new 10-year high against the US dollar today following the surprise move by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to tighten its foreign exchange policy to contain inflation, a dealer said.

At 5pm, the ringgit traded firmer against the U.S. dollar at 3.1500/1530 compared with 3.1750/1785 at yesterday’s close.

The ringgit recorded its last 10-year high against the greenback on March 13 when it hit 3.1560.

“The market moved fast today, forcing the ringgit to another new record. This trend is likely to be sustained for quite some time,” the dealer said.

He attributed the ringgit’s appreciation to the strengthening of the Singapore dollar.

Singapore today moved to re-centre its foreign exchange policy band at the current firm level of its dollar nominal effective exchange rate.

The move is expected to be beneficial for Singapore’s economy as a strong currency will help cushion its economy from rising global commodity prices, dealers said. Singapore which has limited natural resources is highly dependent on imports.

The ringgit today declined against the Singapore dollar to 2.3194/3237 from 2.3007/3040 at yesterday’s closing and depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.1328/1361 from 3.1044/1067.

Compared with the euro, the ringgit was also weaker at 4.9987/9041 from 4.9965/9014 yesterday but it strengthened against the pound sterling to 6.2294/2363 from 6.2597/2649.

– BERNAMA

United Arab Emirates foreign exchange reserves surged 50 per cent in November, the most in at least 18 years, to $75 billion, a central bank treasury official said on Thursday.

That was the same month UAE Central Bank Governor Sultan Nasser Al Suweidi said the world’s fifth-largest oil producer was under pressure to drop its peg to the dollar and might consider linking to a basket instead.

Reserves jumped from $50.4 billion the month before, the biggest rise since data going back to 1990. The central bank official did not want to be identified.

-Reuters

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The dollar and pound remained weaker against other major currencies after a report from the International Monetary Fund slashed global economic growth forecasts, particularly for the United States and United Kingdom. Read more

Siddique Islam - AHN South Asia Correspondent

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - The central bank of Bangladesh on Thursday sold more the U.S. dollar as a part of its ongoing intervention to keep the foreign exchange market stable, officials say in Dhaka. The Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, sold US$20 million at prevailing market rate to two commercial banks on the day to meet the growing demand for the currency.

The central bank of Bangladesh started intervening in the inter-bank foreign exchange market through selling of U.S. dollar in October, 2007 aiming to keep the market stable. The BB has since sold over $520 million to the commercial banks as part of its intervention in the market, the central bank officials confirmed.

The central bank is continuously selling the U.S. dollar to the commercial banks giving priority to help settlement of import payment bills for essential items including food grains and petroleum products, they noted. They also said the central bank will continue its intervention in the inter-bank foreign exchange market to help the commercial banks settle their import bills for essentials.

Meanwhile, the money market was active, as banks and financial institutions borrowed cash at high rates from the inter-bank market to meet urgent requirements of their clients, treasury officials said.

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Dubai-based Islamic mortgage company Amlak Finance said first quarter profit rose more than five-fold to 126 million dirhams ($34.31m). Revenue almost tripled. Revenue in the three months to March 31 was 270m dirhams, compared with 102n dirhams in the year-earlier period, the lender said, its second-biggest quarterly profit ever. Read more

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The Central Bank (CBN) has said it expects the new Micro Credit Fund (MCF) to increase to N100 billion in two years. The MCF replaces the Small and Medium Industries Equity Investment Scheme (SMIEIS) designed to direct the flow of bank funds to small and medium-scale enterprises.
ImageThe fund which began operation with the N37.5 billion SMIEIS fund, has a micro credit component which supports activities of small and micro enterprises through interventions of government at all levels.

It also involves activities of the micro finance banks in providing cheap finance to the small and micro entrepreneurs.The Guidelines on the MCF stated that MCF would serve as an interim scheme for only three years.

It said the scheme would be phased out as soon as legal and institutional infrastructure for effective administration of credit to small and micro enterprises improved.

“In the first instance, this programme shall be applicable for three years, 2008, 2009 and 2010.“The tenor of the loan accessed by each state shall be as agreed with the bank but shall not exceed one year in the first instance, with the possibility of a roll-over yearly, thereafter,” the guidelines said.
The CBN said for a state to access the fund, it had to deposit a counterpart fund from the bank from which it is obtaining the fund.

It must also set up a monitoring mechanism to ensure efficient utilisation of the fund as well as to sign an irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) in favour of participating bank.It said a state could access the fund on a yearly basis provided it met its obligations under the fund.

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