Malaysians buying British pounds in a hurry
Moneychangers in the Klang valley report running out of pounds and Euros early in the day due to heavy buying by Malaysians.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are buying the pound sterling and the Euro, whose value have dropped following the decision by the people of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
This was clear from the fact that moneychangers in the Klang Valley reported running out of euros and pound sterling yesterday.
The two likely reasons why Malaysians are buying these currencies while they are cheaper are: to stock up for planned or possible holidays to the UK and Europe, or as an investment.
It has to be noted that the children of many Malaysian parents are studying in the UK.
The Malay Mail quoted money changer, Mahfouz Alam as saying that a long queue had formed in front of his shop at 10am when he opened for business. He said because they were asking for large amounts, he had to limit the amount he sold to each person.
By 11.30am, he said, he was out of pounds and only had about 1,500 euros left.
The report quoted another moneychanger, who only wanted to be known as Amir, as saying one man had asked for £20,000.
“My boss told me to tell him to place a 10 per cent deposit while we got him the cash. We do not usually get a request for such a large amount. It was a shock for us,” he said.
Another moneychanger, Noor Hasnah Hashim, was quoted as saying: “I am expecting another large crowd tomorrow morning and I think we will need more than £40,000 for the day.”
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Engineer Tham Wai Keong wanted to buy £10,000 for his impending visit to his daughter in Manchester, England, but was unable to do so as the money had run out at the moneychanger outlet that he visited.