KUALA LUMPUR (July 22): The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) amounted to US$103.3 billion as at July 15 this year, up 0.6% from US$102.7 billion as at June 28, the central bank said today.

In a statement, BNM said the reserves level is sufficient to finance 7.3 months of retained imports and is 1.2 times total short-term external debt.

Foreign currency reserves, the largest reserves portion, came in at US$97.1 billion, while International Monetary Fund reserves position and special depository rights were both at US$1.1 billion.

Gold was at US$1.8 billion while other reserve assets was at US$2.2 billion level.

As at July 15, the bank's assets totalled RM456.371 billion, while currency in circulation was at RM108.498 billion.