KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves amounted to US$103.0 billion as at Sept 28 compared with US$103.9 billion as at Sept 14, 2018.

In a statement today, BNM said the reserves level has taken into account the quarterly adjustment for foreign exchange revaluation changes following the strengthening of the US dollar against various foreign currency reserve assets held by the central bank.

“The reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.4 months of retained imports and is 0.9 times the short-term external debt,” it said.

The short-term external debt is mostly accounted by banking institutions (69.3 per cent of short-term external debt) reflecting the centralisation of liquidity management of Malaysian banks operating in the region and the sizeable presence of foreign banks in Malaysia.

“These banking institutions hold substantial external assets (RM293.0 billion) which can be drawn upon to meet their external obligations without creating a claim on Bank Negara Malaysia’s international reserves,” it added.  

The main components of the international reserves comprised foreign currency reserves at US$97.3 billion, International Monetary Fund reserves position (US$900 million), Special Drawing Rights (SDR; US$1.1 billion), gold (US$1.5 billion), and other reserve assets (US$2.2 billion).

BNM said assets included gold and foreign exchange and other reserves including SDRs (RM427.03 billion); Malaysian government papers (RM3.46 billion); deposits with financial institutions (RM828.9 million); loans and advances (RM7.07 billion); land and buildings (RM4.18 billion); and other assets (RM7.58 billion).

Its liabilities comprised paid-up capital (RM100 million); reserves (RM136.06 billion); currency in circulation (RM103.89 billion); deposits by financial institutions (RM173.24 billion); deposits by the Federal government (RM9.66 billion); other deposits (RM1.02 billion); Bank Negara papers (RM15.37 billion); allocation of SDRs (RM7.77 billion); and other liabilities (RM3.03 billion).

-- BERNAMA