KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia amounted to RM442.3 billion (equivalent to US$135 billion) as at Jan 15 this year.

The central bank said the reserves position was sufficient to finance 9.6 months of retained imports and was 3.7 times the short-term external debt.    

The bank said the main components of the international reserves were foreign currency reserves (US$121.9 billion), International Monetary Fund reserves (US$1 billion), Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) (US$2.0 billion), gold (US$1.4 billion) and other reserve assets (US$8.7 billion).   

Bank Negara’s total assets, including international reserves, stood at RM474.4 billion.   

Assets other than international reserves included Malaysian government papers (RM1.85 billion), deposits with financial institutions (RM16.25 billion), loans and advances (RM6.69 billion), and other assets (RM7.30 billion), the bank said in a statement.

Its capital and liabilities comprised paid-up capital (RM100 million), reserves (RM56.12 billion), currency in circulation (RM76.15 billion), deposits by financial institutions (RM187.7 billion), federal government deposits (RM15.24 billion), other deposits (RM2.94 billion), Bank Negara papers (RM104.66 billion), allocation of SDRs (RM6.79 billion) and other liabilities (RM24.67 billion). — Bernama