KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia wants its state-owned funds and related companies to repatriate some earnings from the more than 500 billion ringgit ($115 billion) worth of investments they have made abroad. The government sees this as one way to help stem the decline of the nation's currency, which has weakened by 26.3% against the dollar over the past year, and shore up the flagging economy.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, in a live TV broadcast Monday, unveiled several "short- and mid-term proactive" measures for grappling with the plunging ringgit and an outflow of foreign capital from the equity market. Underscoring the gravity of the situation, state-owned investment funds, as well as blue-chip companies whose shares are majority-owned by public institutions, are being urged to bring home a portion of their overseas assets and invest locally instead.
