At its meeting today, Bank Negara Malaysia 's Monetary Policy Committee decided to leave the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) unchanged at 3.50 percent.

The Malaysian economy continued on a steady growth path and maintained healthy employment growth in the third quarter. This trend is expected to be maintained in the fourth quarter. The strength of domestic demand is expected to sustain growth going into 2008. However, greater uncertainties in the credit markets and weaker demand conditions in some of the large industrial economies have heightened the risk of slower global growth and its potential implications on the domestic economy.

Inflation in Malaysia has edged upwards but its level has remained low. The price pressures being experienced by the global economy are expected to persist over the medium term, arising from higher food, fuel and commodity prices. These developments may increase the risk to the outlook for inflation. A number of mitigating factors, including capacity expansion, would however moderate the impact on domestic inflation in 2008.

The Monetary Policy Committee views the risks to inflation and economic growth as being about balanced. The future thrust of monetary policy would depend on new information and our assessment of the change in the balance of risks to the medium term outlook for inflation and growth.

The meeting also approved the schedule of Monetary Policy Committee meetings for 2008. The Monetary Policy Statement will continue to be released at 6:00 p.m. on the same day as the Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

Schedule of Monetary Policy Committee Meetings for 2008
No.	Date
1 st	29 January 2008 (Tuesday)
2 nd	25 February 2008 (Monday)
3 rd	29 April 2008 (Tuesday)
4 th	26 May 2008 (Monday)
5 th	25 July 2008 (Friday)
6 th	25 August 2008 (Monday)
7 th	24 October 2008 (Friday)
8 th	24 November 2008 (Monday)