‘Time not right for PNB to invest abroad’

KUALA LUMPUR: The time is not right for Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) to invest abroad considering the ringgit is weak compared with its true value, said chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar.

Despite forecast of an interest rate hike in the United States ( US) and that more investments would shift to the US, he said PNB would still take an opportunistic approach towards it.

“We have been anticipating the US Federal Reserve to increase interest rates from time to time and it’s just a matter of time before it (the next hike) comes in.“In PNB’s perspective, when we allocate our investments we always took into account portfolio diversification and funding structure,” he told reporters after opening the National Integrity Convention 2017, jointly organised by Petronas and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity yesterday.

PNB invested 98 per cent of its funds locally and the remaining two per cent, abroad.

Touching on the local equity market, he said the FBM KLCI declined three per cent last year but in the first ten months of 2017, it rose by about 6.5 per cent and helped PNB increase its market capitalisation in strategic companies by 13 per cent.

On income growth, Abdul Wahid said it would be announced on Dec 22 but declined to elaborate.

As for reinforcing integrity in corporate governance, he said top leadership by example must be there, and it must be driven by chairman, board of directors, chief executive officers and supported by the management.

Abdul Wahid added that for any leader to be successful, three basic prerequisite qualities must be inherent namely unquestionable integrity, right competency and humility.

“Integrity is about doing the right thing even when no one is watching, competency is about having the right skills and knowledge to do a good job and humility is the need to respect others with mutual respect, grounded on the roots and the need to serve rather than for selfish interest, “he explained.

Abdul Wahid also said for Malaysia to move forward, it was important for the society to rid itself of corrupt practices.

Applauding the recent anti corruption drive by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission ( MACC), he said 939 people were arrested in 2016, up 11.7 per cent, from 2015.

In the first ten months of this year, there were 785 arrests, hence society must continue to lend their support so that MACC could do their job without fear and favour, he added.

Abdul Wahid said Malaysia was still suffering from poor perception whereby its ranking in the ‘ Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index in 2016’ declining one notch to 55th placing .

Therefore, he hoped MACC’s relentless anti- corruption drive and zero tolerance attitude towards corruption would help improve the index over time. — Bernama