Malaysia Aided by Good Timing as Oil Cushions Election Shock
- Ringgit, crude prices are showing signs of decoupling
- Higher oil will provide a boost to government revenues: ANZ
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One reason for the resilience of Malaysian assets as local markets reopened Monday may have been that Mahathir Mohamad’s shock election win has coincided with a jump in oil prices to the highest since 2014.
Crude has rallied around 8 percent this quarter in the run-up and aftermath to Malaysia’s historic vote last Wednesday. That’s providing a boost to state coffers in a country where official data shows mineral fuel exports accounted for around a 10th of gross domestic product in the nine months through end-2017. It will also cushion the impact from some of the new government’s policies that were described as credit-negative by Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.