Bank Negara Malaysia: New year surprise rate cut - ANZ

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) analysts express their take on the Malaysian Central Bank’s surprise rate cut announcement earlier on Wednesday, in an effort to safeguard growth.

Key Quotes:

“Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) cut its Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) by 25bps to 2.75% today. The cut, which was against the consensus view, has brought the OPR to its lowest level since 2011.

Despite sounding more upbeat on both global and domestic growth prospects, BNM cut the policy rate as a “pre-emptive measure to secure the improving growth trajectory”.

Given the front-loaded cut today, we expect no further changes to the policy rate in 2020.”