Malaysia Int’l Reserves Rise

The international reserves of Bank Negara amounted to $96.1 billion (RM425.2 billion) as at April 28, compared with $95.7 billion registered as at April 14, Bernama reported. In a statement, the central bank said the reserves position was sufficient to finance 7.9 months of retained imports and was 1.1 times the short-term external debt. The main components of the international reserves were foreign currency reserves ($89.5 billion), International Monetary Fund Reserves position ($0.8 billion), Special Drawing Rights ($1.1 billion), gold ($1.6 billion) and other reserve assets ($3.1 billion). The central bank’s assets included gold and foreign exchange and other reserves including SDRs (RM425.177 billion), Malaysian government papers (RM3.311 billion), deposits with financial institutions (RM8.913 billion), loans and advances (RM7.815 billion), land and buildings (RM2.113 billion) and other assets (RM8.031 billion). Its liabilities comprised paid-up capital (RM100 million), reserves (RM148.585 billion), currency in circulation (RM100.131 billion), deposits by financial institutions (RM179.047 billion), deposits by federal government (RM6.339 billion), other deposits (RM645.814 million), Bank Negara papers (RM8.51 billion) , allocation of SDRs (RM8.077 billion) and other liabilities (RM3.925 billion).