Thursday 28 Mar 2024
By
main news image

(Nov 7): Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has expressed his concern over the amount of Malaysia's international reserves which may not be enough to pay short-term external debt.

In a Facebook post today, he said Bank Negara Malaysia announced that the level of reserves is sufficient to finance 7.5 months of retained imports and 0.9 times the short-term external debt.

"My concern is the 0.9 times the short-term foreign debt.

"Before GE14, I have never seen this figure below 1.0 times and it is usually 1.1 times and above. 0.9 times, which is below 1.0 times, means our reserves are insufficient to pay all short-term foreign debt when claimed and is a new risk for the country.

"That is, we owe foreigners US$100 but we only have US$90 to pay them. Guan Eng (the Financed Minister) needs to take note."

Najib added that our reserves dropped further to US$101.7 billion after GE14 and experienced a downward trend due to the continuous outflow of foreign fund funds from the country.

"Before that it was up. Our reserves have fallen to US$8.3 billion since mid-April."

      Print
      Text Size
      Share