KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 23): Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) international reserves amounted to US$104.8 billion as at Sept 15 this year, up 0.38% from the US$104.4 billion that was recorded on Aug 28.

In a statement today, the central bank said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.7 months of retained imports and is 1.1 times the total short-term external debt.

Of the components of the international reserves, foreign currency reserves slipped to US$96.3 billion from US$97.3 billion previously, while International Monetary Fund reserves, Special Drawing Rights and gold were unchanged at US$1.3 billion, US$1.1 billion and US$2.2 billion respectively. Other reserve assets, meanwhile, rose to US$3.9 billion from US$2.5 billion.

The bank's total assets stood at RM502.21 billion as at Sept 15, versus RM499.84 billion as at Aug 28.