KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 7): The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) amounted to US$116.9 billion (about RM491.86 billion) as at Dec 31, 2021, up slightly from US$116.3 billion as at Dec 15, 2021.

The reserves level has taken into account the quarterly foreign exchange revaluation changes.

In a statement on Friday (Jan 7), the central bank said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.7 months of retained imports and is 1.2 times total short-term external debt.

BNM added that the main components of the international reserves were foreign currency reserves, which stood at US$104.1 billion, the International Monetary Fund reserves position at US$1.4 billion, special drawing rights (SDRs) amounting to US$6 billion and gold at US$2.3 billion, followed by other reserve assets at US$3.1 billion.

Assets comprising gold, foreign exchange and other reserves including SDRs amounted to RM486.79 billion, followed by Malaysian government papers (RM12.21 billion), deposits with financial institutions (RM880.26 million), loans and advances (RM22.87 billion), land and buildings (RM4.16 billion), and other assets (RM24.65 billion).

Capital and liabilities comprising paid-up capital amounted to RM100 million, followed by reserves (RM186.75 billion), currency in circulation (RM150.06 billion), deposits by financial institutions (RM159.89 billion), federal government deposits (RM8.59 billion), other deposits (RM4.79 billion), BNM papers (RM7.91 billion), allocations of SDRs (RM28.15 billion) and other liabilities (RM5.31 billion).