Bank Negara Malaysia decided to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 3.00 percent, after the forth Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in 2011, held on 7 July 2011.

According to BNM, the decision to maintain the OPR at 3% was due to slower growth in the second quarter of 2011. The decision suprised many economist that were expected OPR will be increased in the 4th MPC meeting.

At the same time, BNM announced an increase in the statutory reserve requirement (SRR) ration from 3.00 percent to 4.00 percent, effective from July 16. Last increment was in May 2011, from 2.00% to 3.00%.

This could result in financial imbalances, however researcher said, the negative impact to bank credit growth is minimum.

In January 2011, OPR was expected to reach 3.00% in third quarter 2011. Read the previous post here => BLR is going up?

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