Bank Negara Malaysia held US$111.0 billion in international reserves on June 15, 2021, the central bank said in a statement on June 22. That was a hair above the US$110.9 billion recorded on May 31.
The bank put the cushion at 8.2 months of retained imports. Measured against what the country owes abroad on short notice, it came to 1.1 times total short-term external debt.
What the reserves are made of
Foreign currency reserves did most of the work at US$102.3 billion. Gold accounted for US$2.1 billion. The International Monetary Fund reserves position added US$1.4 billion and special drawing rights (SDRs) US$1.2 billion, while other reserve assets made up US$4.0 billion.
The balance sheet behind it
The statement also laid out the bank’s own books. Its largest asset line, the gold and foreign exchange holdings along with SDRs, was RM460.87 billion. Malaysian government papers came to RM11.43 billion, loans and advances to RM20.20 billion, deposits with financial institutions to RM2.19 billion, land and buildings to RM4.16 billion, and other assets to RM15.76 billion.
Capital and liabilities ran as follows: paid-up capital of RM100.0 million; reserves of RM178.66 billion; currency in circulation of RM142.24 billion; deposits by financial institutions of RM147.43 billion; federal government deposits of RM14.52 billion; other deposits of RM9.30 billion; Bank Negara papers of RM9.32 billion; the allocation of SDRs at RM7.91 billion; and other liabilities of RM5.14 billion.
Sources
- BNM's international reserves rise to US$111bil as at June 15
- Bank Negara's international reserves rise to US$111.0b as at June 15
