KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 23): Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves had risen slightly to US$116.2 billion (about RM486.88 billion) as at Sept 15, 2021 from US$111.3 billion as at Aug 13, 2021.
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In a statement today, the central bank said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.1 months of retained imports and is 1.3 times total short-term external debt.
BNM said the main components of its international reserves were foreign currency reserves (US$102.4 billion), up slightly from US$102.3 billion previously, while its International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserves position remained the same at US$1.4 billion.
Meanwhile, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) amounted to US$6.1 billion, a significant increase from US$1.2 billion, whereas its gold position was maintained at US$2.2 billion, while other reserve assets fell slightly to US$4.1 billion from US$4.2 billion.
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Assets comprising gold, foreign exchange (forex) and other reserves, including SDRs, amounted to RM483.27 billion, up from RM462.64 billion, while Malaysian government papers increased slightly to RM11.33 billion from RM11.22 billion.
Meanwhile, deposits with financial institutions rose to RM912.03 million from RM727.36 million, while loans and advances increased to RM22.28 billion from RM20.35 billion. Land and buildings remained at RM4.16 billion, while other assets grew to RM15.93 billion from RM15.79 billion.
Capital and liabilities comprising paid-up capital amounted to RM100 million, reserves rose to RM185.17 billion from RM184.86 billion, currency in circulation increased to RM145.49 billion from RM143.72 billion and deposits by financial institutions increased to RM141.95 billion from RM138.77 billion, while federal government deposits fell to RM15.85 billion from RM20.11 billion.
Other deposits grew to RM8.72 billion from RM5.86 billion, BNM papers fell to RM7.04 billion from RM8.5 billion and allocation of SDRs increased significantly to RM28.84 billion from RM7.98 billion, while other liabilities reduced slightly to RM4.73 billion from RM5 billion. -The Edge Markets