SGD1 to RM3.50, a Record High of Singapore Dollar Against Malaysia Ringgit

Itching to get out of Singapore for a short breather? Most, if not all of you would be thinking the alphabets “JB” right now.

And who can blame you; after all, there are so many ways to skip the crowd at the checkpoints.

Well, here’s one more reason for you to make your way down to JB (soon), or rush to the nearest moneychanger.

SGD1 to RM3.50, a Record High of Singapore Dollars Against Malaysia Ringgit

12 July was an epic day.

For one, a Singapore minister got invited by CPIB to lim kopi. And two, the Singapore Dollar (SGD) hit a new high against the Malaysia Ringgit (MYR).

At around 8.30pm on 12 July 2023, the SGD experienced a surge in value against the MYR, hitting SGD 1 to RM3.5006 at around 1am.

The spike persisted until 8am today before falling back to RM3.47.

Despite the drop, it’s still a good time to exchange some of your Singapore dollars for Malaysia Ringgit since the current position is the highest, even when compared over the past 20 years.

Good luck trying to change money at The Arcade during lunchtime today.

Why is the MYR Falling Against the SGD

Remember back when the US Federal Reserves raised interest rates like crazy? People in Singapore were scrambling to lock in their mortgage interest rates.

Well, that is one of the reasons behind the fall of MYR against the SGD, according to a CNA report.

Unlike Singapore, which does not have an explicit interest rate policy, Malaysia’s explicit interest rate policy placed more pressure on the ringgit.

Another reason is that the stronger fundamentals in the Singapore economy allowed SGD to be more “resilient” against the strengthening of the USD.

Investors confidence in Singapore is higher than in Malaysia, with Singapore being rated as AAA+ while Malaysia is BBB+.

Malaysia also has relatively weaker investment opportunities when compared to Singapore.

It was added that Malaysia’s exports has shrunk by 1.8% year on year in the first quarter of 2023.

This can be largely attributed to the drop in exports to China, one of Malaysia’s biggest trading partners.

So What’s the Forecast Like for SGD-MYR?

According to analysts, the SGD-MYR value situation will stabilise at some point in time.

One indicator was that the US government has agreed to raise the debt ceiling.

According to CNN, the US’s latest Consumer Purchasing Index (CPI) showed that inflation fell to 3%, despite there being no rate hikes for the month of June 2023.

This leads to the question of whether the US Feds will continue the interest rate hikes for the rest of the year.

MYR Pounded By The Pound Sterling

It’s not just SGD. The British Pound also pounded MYR into the ground on 12 July 2023.

According to Free Malaysia Today, MYR fell to its lowest level against the British Pound with 1 Pound to RM6.

This is the lowest in 7 years.