BNM International Reserves Up 2.2% to US$107.5 Bil as at Nov 15

The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) amounted to US$107.5 billion (RM492.7 billion) as at Nov 15, up 2.2% from US$105.2 billion as at Oct 31.

In a statement on Tuesday (Nov 22), BNM said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 5.2 months of imports of goods and services, and is 1.0 time of the total short-term external debt.

Its international reserves consist of five components, namely foreign currency reserves, International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserves, IMF-linked special drawing rights (SDRs), gold, and other reserve assets.

Notably, foreign currency reserves rose to US$95.8 billion from US$93.7 billion two weeks prior, while other reserve assets increased to US$2.8 billion from US$2.6 billion previously.

Meanwhile, the remaining components remained unchanged, with IMF reserves worth US$1.3 billion, SDRs at US$5.5 billion, and gold at US$2.1 billion.

BNM's assets totalled RM598.26 billion as at Nov 15, up from RM583.03 billion as at Oct 31, while currency in circulation stood at RM158.58 billion.

Source: The Edge Markets