BNM international reserves decline 0.5% to US$103.9b as at Sep 14

PETALING JAYA: Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves amounted to US$103.9 billion (RM429.7 billion) as at September 14, 2018, down 0.5% compared with the US$104.4 billion as at August 30, 2018.
The central bank said in a statement that the lower reserves level largely reflects portfolio outflows, as experienced in the region.
However, BNM noted that the reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.1 months of retained imports and is 0.9 times the short-term external debt.
It also pointed out that the short-term external debt is mostly accounted by banking institutions (69.3% of short-term external debt), reflecting the centralisation of liquidity management of Malaysian banks operating in the region and the sizeable presence of foreign banks in Malaysia.
“These institutions hold substantial external assets (RM293 billion), which can be drawn upon to meet their external obligations without creating a claim on BNM’s international reserves.”