Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said any decision affecting the ringgit peg will not depend on input from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"That (flexibility issue) seems to be bothering the IMF. I think they should keep their opinions to themselves. They never help us anyway," Mahathir told reporters.

"If we had followed them, we'd be (lost) down the road... we can decide what and when we like to be flexible."

Malaysia pegged the ringgit at 3.8 to the US dollar during the Asian economic crisis in 1998 to protect it from currency speculators, a move criticised at the time by the IMF, which said the rate should be determined by market forces.

The 77-year-old Mahathir was responding to questions after reports some IMF directors believe a carefully prepared move towards a more flexible regime would give Malaysia more options over the medium term and enable it to cope with future shocks and manage capital flow risks.

Growth predicted

The central bank recently said the ringgit peg remained consistent with economic fundamentals despite weakening against major currencies in the January-October period.

Mahathir also predicted stable economic growth for 2003 despite the uncertainties surrounding the world economy.

Mahathir said gross domestic product (GDP) growth next year was expected to be similar to the 2002 estimate of four to five percent.

Asked if his growth expectations for next year constitutes a downward revision from the official forecast, Mahathir said: "I'm always very conservative."

In September, Malaysia had predicted economic growth of 6.0-6.5 percent for

Won't suffer like Singapore

Mahathir shrugged off concerns the Malaysian economy may face the same fate of its neighbour Singapore.

"Singapore's problem is different from our problem. They are a high-cost centre and while they could maintain it at a time when their neighbours were inefficient, once their neighbours achieve efficiency like them, then high-cost is a disadvantage to them," he said.

Singapore emerged from its worst ever recession in the second quarter but there have been cracks in the recovery, forcing the government to trim its growth forecast for the year by about a third to 2.0-2.5 percent.

Last year, the city-state's economy shrank 2.0 percent after nearly 10 percent growth in 2000. AFP