KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 31): Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said on Monday (Oct 31) Malaysia's pre-determined short-term outflows of foreign currency loans, securities and deposits, which include scheduled repayments of external borrowings by the government and the maturity of foreign currency BNM interbank bills, amount to US$11.18 billion (RM52.85 billion) for the next 12 months.
"Projected foreign currency inflows amount to US$1.84 billion in the next 12 months," BNM said in a statement.
At US$11.18 billion, the country's latest projected foreign currency outflow figure has increased from the previous forecast of US$9.4 billion, according to BNM's statement on Sept 30.
In BNM's statement on Monday, the central bank said that in line with the practice adopted since April 2006, the nation's projected foreign currency outflow and inflow data exclude projected foreign currency inflows arising from interest income and the drawdown of project loans.
In a separate statement on Monday, BNM said the ringgit in September depreciated 3.5% against the US dollar amid continued strengthening of the US currency.
The rate at which the ringgit depreciated against the US dollar was however smaller than the average 3.8% depreciation recorded by Asian currencies including those of Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea, according to BNM.
"In September, global bond yields rose, equity markets declined and the US dollar strengthened further. This reflected expectations of further monetary policy tightening, especially by the US Federal Reserve to address persistent inflationary pressures amid a more moderate global [economic] growth outlook.
"Notwithstanding this, average trading volume and FX (foreign exchange) volatility in the domestic financial markets remained healthy," BNM said.
According to BNM, the 10-year Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) yields rose 43 basis points in September while the FBM KLCI declined 7.8%, driven by non-resident portfolio outflows from the domestic bond and equity markets.
At the time of writing on Monday, the ringgit weakened to 4.7300 against the US dollar.
Over the last one year, the exchange rate was between 4.1450 and 4.7417.