BNM international reserves down 0.9% to US$103b as at Sep 28

PETALING JAYA: Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves amounted to US$103.0 billion (RM427.45 billion) as at 28 September 2018, showing a 0.9% decline compared with the US$103.9 billion (RM429.7 billion) as at September 14, 2018.
The central bank said in a statement that the reserves level has taken into account the quarterly adjustment for foreign exchange revaluation changes following the strengthening of the US dollar against various foreign currency reserve assets held by BNM.
It added that the reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.4 months of retained imports and is 0.9 times the short-term external debt.
BNM said 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 banking institutions hold substantial external assets (RM293.0 billion), which can be drawn upon to meet their external obligations without creating a claim on BNM’s international reserves,” it said.