PETALING JAYA: The ringgit’s slide accelerated towards the RM4 to a US dollar level after China surprised the market by devaluing its currency, sparking concerns that a currency war might be next.
The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, devalued the yuan by 2% against the dollar yesterday after announcing over the weekend that exports in July fell by 8.3%. That data was part of an ongoing set of disappointing economic data from the world’s second-largest economy that has been plagued by concerns of a slowdown.