COMMENT | Malaysia’s “catch of the week” lies in the widening gap between intent and execution.

While macroeconomic anchors remain intact, institutional credibility and delivery capacity have become the market’s primary pricing mechanism as the country moves into 2026. Stability is no longer the question; implementation is.

On Jan 22, Bank Negara Malaysia kept the overnight policy rate unchanged at 2.75 percent, reinforcing a deliberate “stability-as-asset” posture at a time when external demand is uneven and global interest-rate expectations remain fluid.

The message is not one of aggressive easing or tightening, but of predictability. BNM is signalling that it intends to preserve a credible monetary floor so that competitiveness and growth upside must be generated through...