This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 23, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) recorded a US$500 million or 0.49% increase in its international reserves to US$103.5 billion as at April 15, 2019, compared to US$103 billion on March 29.
“The reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.7 months of retained imports and is one-time total short-term external debt,” the central bank said in a statement yesterday.
Foreign currency reserves made up the bulk of total reserves at US$97.3 billion, while both IMF reserves position and special depository rights amounted to US$1.1 billion each.
Gold and other reserve assets were valued at US$1.6 billion and US$2.4 billion, respectively.
As at April 15, assets totalled RM452.72 billion, added BNM.