Prior to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the Malaysian ringgit was an internationalised currency, which was freely traded around the world. Just before the crisis, the Ringgit was traded RM2.50 at the dollar. Due to speculative activities, the Ringgit fell to as much as RM4.10 to the dollar in matter of weeks. Bank Negara Malaysia, the nation's central bank, decided to impose capital controls to prevent the outflow of the Ringgit in the open market. The Ringgit became non-internationalised and a traveller had to declare to the central bank if taking out more than RM10,000 out of the country and the Ringgit itself was pegged at RM3.80 to the US dollar.