KUALA LUMPUR: Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng has called for Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to maintain the overnight policy rate (OPR) at 2.75 per cent.
The DAP chairman and Bagan member of parliament in a statement said this ahead of the next monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting set for tomorrow and Wednesday.
"May Day celebrations today would be muted and meaningless if BNM increases the OPR at its meeting tomorrow.
"As we celebrate Workers' Day (today), the principal concerns for Malaysia's 16.8 million labour force are cost of living and income or a fair living wage."
With many workers having personal loans, any increase in OPR would naturally increase their borrowing costs and reduce their disposable income, he said.
He said only banks would benefit from any increase in interest rates and urged BNM to demonstrate that "it has a heart for the sufferings faced by workers by standing together in solidarity with our labour force".
He said BNM had previously cited curbing inflationary pressures as the rationale for the 100 basis points increase in OPR last year.
"Now that inflation is slowly being reined in, there is a need to focus on generating economic growth.
"Sustaining economic growth is challenging in view of the current global economic downturn and expected recession in the United States."
Lim said the inability to sustain economic growth from raising OPR and the further burden of any higher financial costs might cause small businesses to close and cause unemployment.
He said the unemployment rate had receded to 3.5 per cent or 592,000 workers in February from 3.6 per cent in January, indicating continued momentum for economic growth to generate income to match cost of living pressures.
There was no need for BNM to raise OPR or interest rate now that the March Consumer Price Index (CPI) had eased to 3.4 per cent from 3.7 per cent in February, he said.
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