OPR increase to 3% is fake news, says Fahmi Fadzil

(Sinar Daily) – Former Umno youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin pokes fun at the recent overnight policy rate (OPR) announcement, as Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the matter was fake news on March 31.

In his Instagram story, Khairy uploaded a screenshot of the March 31 Facebook post by Fahmi with the caption “How it started”.

He also uploaded in his next Instagram story a screenshot of an article by Astro Awani that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has raised the OPR to three per cent with a caption “How it’s going”.

On March 31, Fahmi reposted a statement of Malay daily Berita Harian’s one-liner report stating that the OPR was expected to rise again as early as July.

In his reply to the post, Fahmi said the newspaper’s report was fake news and that he will meet with the newspaper’s management over the matter.

Yesterday, BNM said the three per cent OPR rate has brought the benchmark interest rate back to pre-crisis levels and is more aligned with the stronger state of the economy.

In its monetary policy statement snapshot for May 2023 released yesterday, the central bank said the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision to raise the OPR to three per cent from 2.75 per cent previously is because the Malaysian economy is showing strength.