KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves amounted to US$116.3 billion (RM490 billion) as at December 15, down slightly from US$116.7 billion at the end of last month.

In a statement today, the central bank said reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.9 months of retained imports and is 1.2 times total short-term external debt.

BNM said the main components of the international reserves were foreign currency reserves (US$102.8 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$3.8 billion).

On the assets, the central bank said they comprised gold, foreign exchange and other reserves including SDRs (RM487.58 billion), Malaysian government papers (RM12.21 billion), deposits with financial institutions (RM627.31 million), loans and advances (RM22.87 billion), land and buildings (RM4.16 billion), and other assets (RM20.01 billion).

Capital and liabilities comprised paid-up capital amounting to RM100 million, reserves (RM187.33 billion), currency in circulation (RM148.22 billion), deposits by financial institutions (RM151.40 billion), federal government deposits (RM12.85 billion), other deposits (RM6.07 billion), Bank Negara papers (RM7.95 billion), allocation of SDRs (RM28.47 billion) and other liabilities (RM5.17 billion). — Bernama