Business

BNM’s international reserves at $107.6 bil as at Dec 31

The central bank says this is enough to finance 8.6 months of retained imports and is 1.2 times short-term external debt

Updated 5 years ago · Published on 08 Jan 2021 5:00PM

BNM’s international reserves at $107.6 bil as at Dec 31
Bank Negara Malaysia’s international reserves stand at $107.6 billion as at end-December, enough to finance 8.6 months of retained imports. – Shutterstock pic, January 8, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR – Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves amounted to US$107.6 billion (RM434.7 billion) as at December 31, 2020, compared with US$105.7 billion as at December 15, 2020.

In a statement today, BNM said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.6 months of retained imports and is 1.2 times total short-term external debt.

“The reserves level has taken into account the quarterly foreign exchange revaluation changes,” it said.

The central bank said the main components of the international reserves were foreign currency reserves (US$99.7 billion), International Monetary Fund reserves position (US$1.4 billion), Special Drawing Rights (SDRs; US$1.2 billion), gold (US$2.4 billion), and other reserve assets (US$2.9 billion).

It said the assets comprised gold and foreign exchange and other reserves including SDRs amounting to RM432.24 billion, Malaysian government papers (RM11.14 billion), deposits with financial institutions (RM2.99 billion), loans and advances (RM17.52 billion), land and buildings (RM4.16 billion), and other assets (RM19.84 billion).

The central bank added that capital and liabilities comprised paid-up capital (RM100 million); reserves (RM170.45 billion); currency in circulation (RM130.42 billion); deposits by financial institutions (RM146.03 billion), federal government deposits (RM3.65 billion), other deposits (RM15.05 billion); Bank Negara papers (RM9.61 billion); allocation of SDRs (RM7.79 billion); and other liabilities (RM4.81 billion). – Bernama, January 8, 2021

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