Malaysian PM announces $4.6 billion boost to support stock market

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced that the government will push $4.6 billion (AED 16.9 billion) into an equity fund in order to support the stock market. The Malaysian ringgit is down 26% from the same time last year, its weakest level in 17 years, with US $1 equalling 4.3 ringgits at present. Meanwhile, the stock market has been down 7.5% for the past three months. The Malaysian Prime Minister has reiterated, however, that the government has no plans to bring back capital controls saying the country's economy and financial system are in far better shape than during the Asian financial crisis in 1997.