Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)

About the Malaysian Ringgit

The Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) is the official currency of Malaysia. It is issued by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country's central bank and the sole issuer of ringgit banknotes and coins, which are the only legal tender in Malaysia. The currency's symbol is RM, its official designation since December 1992, and one ringgit divides into 100 sen. The symbol is written before the amount, as in RM100, while the four circulating coins are denominated in sen.

Bank Negara Malaysia has operated the ringgit in a managed float since 21 July 2005, when it removed the currency's fixed exchange rate against the US dollar and announced that the ringgit's value would be determined by economic fundamentals, monitored against a basket of the currencies of Malaysia's major trading partners. BNM's toolkit for maintaining orderly conditions includes buying or selling foreign currency in the market when ringgit movements are disorderly, prudential measures curbing excessive foreign-exchange risk-taking by banks and corporates, and encouraging longer-term foreign investment to limit the volatility of capital outflows during periods of stress.

Bank Negara Malaysia assumed sole power to issue Malaysia's currency and began issuing the Malaysian dollar in June 1967. The new currency was initially interchangeable with the Singapore and Brunei dollars, an arrangement terminated in May 1973, and Malaysia adopted a floating-rate exchange system in June 1973 as the Bretton Woods order unravelled. In August 1975 the Malay names ringgit and sen were adopted as the official names of the currency and its hundredth part, replacing the dollar and cent.

During the Asian financial crisis Malaysia imposed selective exchange controls, and from September 1998 the ringgit was pegged at RM3.80 per US dollar. The peg lasted almost seven years, until BNM moved the currency to its present managed float in July 2005. Foreign-exchange dealing against the ringgit remains concentrated onshore: non-residents transact through licensed onshore banks or their appointed overseas offices, channelling activity that the BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey of April 2025 measured at about US$20 billion a day in ringgit turnover, out of a US$9.5 trillion global total.

Circulating banknotes belong to the fourth series, themed "Distinctively Malaysia", in denominations of RM1, RM5, RM10, RM20, RM50 and RM100; the RM50 note entered circulation in July 2009 and the five other denominations in June 2012. Coins of 5, 10, 20 and 50 sen belong to the third series, in circulation since January 2012. Since 1 April 2008 over-the-counter payments have been rounded to the nearest 5 sen on the total bill, and the 1 sen coin remains legal tender.