KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 22): The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia have increased by 0.63% to US$95.3 billion (RM360.1 billion), as at Sept 15, from US$94.7 billion (RM357.7 billion) on Aug 28, 2015.

In a statement today, Bank Negara said the reserves’ position as at Sept 15 is sufficient to finance 7.3 months of retained imports and is 1.1 times the short-term external debt.

Short-term external debt refers to short-term offshore borrowing, non-resident holdings of short-term ringgit debt securities, non-resident deposits with the banking system, and other short-term debt, according to the statement.

This is the second consecutive increase in international reserves recorded by the central bank since June 30 this year.

The first increase was to US$94.7 billion (RM357.7 billion) as at Aug 28 from US$94.5 billion (RM356.4 billion) at Aug 14.

Analysts have previously raised concerns over Bank Negara’s international reserves, which had declined below US$100 billion on July 31, to stymie the further decline of the ringgit.

The ringgit retreated 0.75% to 4.3042 against the US dollar. Compared to the Singapore dollar, the ringgit weakened 0.2% to 3.0400.

The FBM KLCI also veered into negative territory today, closing 4.1 points or 0.3% at 1,635.37 points due to selling pressure on banking and plantation stocks such as Public Bank Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd.

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