KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s international reserves stood at US$105 billion (RM436.5 billion) as of September 30, and is sufficient to finance 8.4 months of retained imports and 1.1 times the total short-term external debt, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Abd Rahim Bakri said the reserves increased US$1.4 billion from the US$103.6 billion at end-2019.
“International reserves are used for certain purposes, and not to finance budgets or economic stimulus packages following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The stimulus packages were financed mainly through domestic loans from local financial markets,” he said in response to Pang Hok Liong (PH-Labis), who wanted to know the total national reserves and Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) total international reserves as of September.
The country’s reserves, which also refer to BNM’s international reserves, consist of foreign currency reserves, the International Monetary Fund reserve position, special drawing rights, gold, and other reserve assets. – Bernama, December 1, 2020
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