Malaysian ringgit gains on plan to introduce consumption tax

SINGAPORE: The Malaysian ringgit extended gains to hit a session high on Friday after Prime Minister Najib Razak said the government will impose a new consumption tax.

Announcing the budget for 2014, Najib said the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) would take effect in April 2015 and the tax rate would be 6 percent, which was higher than the 4-5 percent tax rate expected by many analysts.

The ringgit rose 0.6 percent to the session high of 3.1425 per dollar as of 0933 GMT, having stood at 3.1560 before Najib announced plans to introduce the tax. The ringgit had closed at 3.1605 per dollar on Thursday.