KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Datuk Seri Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour today said that the central bank welcomed the decision of Malaysia’s recent removal from the US currency monitoring list.

He said that the decision reaffirms that ringgit has always been driven by the market.

"Yes, we welcome this development with Malaysia being removed from the currency manipulation monitoring list. I think this shows that the ringgit has always been a market-driven currency.

"We never used exchange rates to gain a competitive edge in the market. So, this reaffirms our belief and position on this matter,” he said in a press conference at Sasana Kijang here.

Earlier, the US Treasury Department removed Malaysia from its "monitoring list” of major trading partners whose currency practices call for closer attention.

The semi-annual report looks into countries with large trade surpluses with respect to the United States that also actively intervene in foreign exchange markets to gain a competitive advantage.

Besides South Korea, other economies on the monitoring list were China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Germany.