The central bank should be allowed to respond to criticisms of its monetary policies in the lower house, Shahril Hamdan said.

“It is important for accountability to be shared by (both) BNM (and the government).

“It should not be the case of (BNM) making the decision and then the prime minister or the finance minister having to explain and deal with criticisms brought about by BNM’s decision,” the former Umno information chief said in the latest episode of the Keluar Sekejap podcast.

Shahril was commenting on BNM’s decision on May 3 to increase the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points (bps) to 3%.

He said placing the central bank under Parliament’s purview was not new as it has been adopted by countries like Indonesia, the US, and the UK.

BNM’s decision to increase the OPR sparked criticism from economists and politicians, who were concerned that the hike would burden borrowers.

On Saturday, PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim said the increase would harm middle and low-income earners and could jeopardise the government’s chances in the state elections.

Meanwhile, former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin agreed with Shahril and added that the public often looked to politicians, as elected representatives, to explain BNM’s monetary policies.

Khairy said allowing the politicians to explain BNM’s monetary decisions would highlight the fact that while Putrajaya might disagree with the central bank, it was allowed to make decisions independently.

“If the government disagrees with BNM’s decision, then they can say that the government understands BNM’s views but that we have different views (on monetary policies).

“This is the distinction between the executive and BNM. I think people will understand that the government will not always agree with BNM.”