Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said Malaysia’s international reserves stood at US$130.5 billion as of June 15, providing a buffer against external shocks and supporting the country’s external obligations.
The central bank said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 4.6 months of imports of goods and services and is equivalent to 0.9 times the country’s total short-term external debt.
BNM noted that the reserve adequacy assessment is based on the expanded import coverage measure, which includes both goods and services imports.
The central bank added that short-term external debt mainly comprises borrowings from non-residents with a maturity of one year or less, largely undertaken by resident banks for foreign currency liquidity operations and by multinational corporations, including foreign banks, through borrowings from their overseas parent companies or headquarters.
According to BNM, these obligations can generally be met through the entities’ own external asset holdings in the normal course of business and do not pose claims on the country’s international reserves.
