Hire purchase interest rates are up by about 0.25%!

June 2, 2010 at 2:11 pm By Paul Tan 

According to a report by StarBiz, hire purchase interest rates have gone up by about a quarter of a percent early this week. An EON Bank officer told the StarBiz reporter that hire-purchase loans are now at the following rates:

The previous rates were between 3.25% to 3.5% for non-national cars and between 3.75% to 4% for national cars. These rates are a good 1% higher than that of the rates not too long ago where you could get a loan for a new non-national car for 2.8%. For example, taking a loan from Public Bank for BMW 5 series E39 two years ago for just 3.75% and that’s for a (then) 11 year old non-national European marque. Another case buying the same model of E39 last year and paying nearly 6% of interest!

A 1% hike could cost a user an extra installment amount of between RM50 to RM100 a month, with the upper end not seeming like a significantly amount when you are taking a loan for over RM100,000 and paying over RM1,500 a month although it is still money.

Malaysia Raises Rate as Faster Growth Eclipses Europe Threat

www.bloomberg.com | By Shamim Adam and Ranjeetha Pakiam

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s central bank raised interest rates for the second time this year as growth accelerated, judging that risks stemming from low borrowing costs are greater than any impact from Europe’s debt crisis. 

Bank Negara Malaysia increased its benchmark overnight policy rate to 2.5 percent from 2.25 percent, it said in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, a decision that was predicted by 21 of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Gross domestic product increased 10.1 percent in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier, the most in a decade, a separate report showed. 

Asian central banks are pulling back monetary stimulus as the region’s growth outpaces the rest of the world. Malaysia will be able to absorb increased volatility in its markets as a result of the turmoil in Europe, and has the “policy flexibility” to act should global conditions worsen, Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said yesterday. 

Read more »

Monetary Conditions To Be Normalised At A Measured Pace And The Ringgit Will Likely Fluctuate At RM3.20-3.30/US$

◆ Countries across the Asia Pacific have stepped up their efforts to normalise their monetary conditions. The normalisation of monetary conditions, in our view, aims to prevent asset prices and financial imbalances from building up in some countries and to address rising inflationary pressures in others.

Read more »

China Politburo Signals No Policy ‘U-turn,’ Merrill Lynch Says

February 22, 2010, 09:34 PM EST

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- China may refrain from interest- rate increases until the fourth quarter after the Communist Party’s Politburo reiterated a “moderately loose” monetary policy, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said.

Read more »