Malaysia's central bank decides to keep OPR unchanged

Malaysia's central bank Friday decided to leave the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) unchanged at 3.5 percent.

"The Malaysian economy continued on a steady growth path, with real gross domestic product increasing by 5.8 percent in the third quarter of this year," Bank Negara Malaysia said in a monetary policy statement in which it announced the decision.

The growth momentum is expected to be sustained into the fourth quarter, the central bank said.

Weaker international oil and commodity prices and a moderate environment of wage and price hikes in the Malaysian economy sustained the downward trend in inflation, it said.

Malaysia's inflation rate eased further to 3.1 percent in October this year. Yet, the bank said that the trend of lower inflationary pressures is expected to continue into the next year.

Source: Xinhua