The reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.1 months of retained imports and is 1.3 times the total short-term external debt, the central bank said in a statement today.

BNM said the main components of the international reserves were foreign currency reserves (US$103.3 billion), IMF reserves position (US$1.4 billion), special drawing rights (SDRs) (US$6.1 billion), gold (US$2.2 billion), and other reserve assets (US$3.1 billion).

Assets comprising gold, foreign exchange, and other reserves, including SDRs, amounted to RM486.22 billion, Malaysian government papers (RM12.36 billion), deposits with financial institutions (RM629.64 million), loans and advances (RM22.68 billion), land and buildings (RM4.16 billion), and other assets (RM15.71 billion).

Capital and liabilities comprising paid-up capital amounted to RM100 million, reserves (RM184.73 billion), currency in circulation (RM146.84 billion), deposits by financial institutions (RM149.26 billion), federal government deposits (RM13.37 billion), other deposits (RM6.48 billion), Bank Negara papers (RM7.53 billion), allocation of SDRs (RM28.47 billion), and other liabilities (RM4.97 billion).