KUALA LUMPUR (March 7): The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) rose a marginal 0.1% to US$102.4 billion as at Feb 28, from US$102.3 billion recorded as at Feb 15.

In a statement today, BNM said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.4 months of retained imports and is one time the country's total short-term external debt.

Foreign currency, the biggest reserves portion, rose to US$96.5 billion from US$96.3 billion previously, while the International Monetary Fund reserves position was maintained at US$900 million.

Also maintained was special drawing rights at US$1.1 billion, and gold at US$1.6 billion.

Other reserve assets portion, however, dipped slightly to US$2.3 billion from US$2.4 billion previously.

As at Feb 28, the central bank's total assets rose marginally to RM451.07 billion from RM450.35 billion previously.