Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, Vol 12, No 3 (2016)

Abstract

This paper is to examine the relationship of Malaysia’s lending interest rate with other countries which include China, Singapore, United States, Indonesia and Thailand. Those five countries are Malaysia’s major trading partners. The daily base lending interest rates from 2006 to 2014 were applied to this study. The associations of the interest rates were tested by coefficient correlation and multivariate regression analysis. Results showed that Malaysian lending interest rate is significant and positively related to those of China, Thailand and the United States. Among the five countries’ interest rates, only the changes in interest rates of China, Thailand and the United States would affect Malaysia’s lending rate. The independence of monetary policy would hardly be expected by the Malaysian authority, Bank Negara, in its decision on lending interest rate. In addition, it may affect the trade finance and money market hedge decisions by the international traders. This study provides an overview and guidance to the government authorities in making more effective decisions related to monetary policy, international trade and foreign exchange exposure in order to strengthen the economy.