Malaysian ringgit

The Chinese renminbi is not the only pegged currency that is the subject of revaluation interest. Another such currency is the Malaysian ringgit, which is pegged at 3.80 ringgit to one US dollar.

Recently, Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia who had instituted the ringgit peg in 1998, suggested that it may be time to review the peg. "I feel the time has come for us to review because we have lost a lot as the value of our currency has fallen," he said.

However, the current prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has ruled out a change for the time being.

"There is no change at this point," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency in Malaysia. "If there comes a time when changes are required to be made for the benefit of the people, we would consider making the changes then."

Like China, Malaysia would want to implement any change in the currency regime at a time of its own convenience. And that would probably mean not giving speculators too many clues as to exactly when it would happen.