PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Razak took a swipe on the declining ringgit in a Facebook post on Thursday (Feb 8).
The former prime minister's Facebook post featured a chart on the ringgit's performance compared to the US dollar along with the sarcastic caption "Najib turun ringgit naik?" (Najib goes down, the ringgit goes up?).
“Who doesn't remember the slogan 'Najib turun, ringgit naik'?
“The reality is that the ringgit has declined by 24.1% or 90 sen against the US dollar since Najib's loss in the 14th General Election (GE14).
“Before GE14, the ringgit was strengthening, but changed course once Najib stepped down.
“The ringgit has never recovered to pre-GE14 levels in the past six years since,” he wrote.
On Wednesday (Feb 7), the ringgit hit a historical record low against our regional rival and neighbour Singapore at 3.5518 against the Singapore dollar.
The ringgit also opened lower against the US dollar on Thursday as the United States equities continued to perform favourably, resulting in the ringgit standing at 4.7630/7665 against the greenback compared to Wednesday's closing rate of 4.7570/7645.
To the misery of Malaysians, the ringgit also traded lower against a number of major currencies including the British pound, euro, Indonesian rupiah, and Philippines peso.
Najib is currently serving a six-year prison sentence after the Pardons Board decided to commute his sentence from 12 years to six and reduced his fine from RM210mil to RM50mil on Feb 2.
He was originally sentenced to 12 years in prison and a RM210mil fine after being found guilty of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in relation to RM42mil that had been syphoned from SRC International, a former 1MBD subsidiary in August 2022.
