Banks stand to pocket RM12 billion a year if OPR raised for even 1pct

KUALA LUMPUR - A mere upping of the overnight policy rate (OPR), even by one per cent, will net the banks approximately RM12 billion a year from debtors.

This basically meant that the banks would pocket RM1 billion per month from borrowers, said Umno information chief Isham Jalil at a meet-and-greet with newsmen, here, today.

“I don’t think even the government collects RM1 billion a month. What is Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) rationale if they were to indeed do this?” was Isham’s poser.

To the uninitiated, OPR is a rate a borrower has to pay to a lending bank for the funds borrowed.

The higher the OPR is set, the more expensive it is to borrow money.

Isham argued that increasing the interest rate would fuel cost for businesses and in turn, added more burdens to consumers.

“When BNM raises the OPR rate and our wages can’t keep up with the consequent increase in cost of living, this will only aggravate the inflation.

“Businesses have to pay more for rental and consumers have to also do the same with their mortgages,” added Isham.

In December last year BNM was reported that they would raise the OPR rate from 2.75 per cent to 3.25 per cent in January 2023 to further realign with global monetary tightening trends and to curb persistently elevated core inflation.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim reaffirmed that the fixing of OPR comes under the exclusive purview of BNM, and that the government would not intervene in such decisions.

“(Changes relating to) OPR is a decision of BNM and not the ministry of finance (MoF).

“I can discuss it if needed, but that is the prerogative of BNM,” he told reporters after he chaired yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.