Bank Negara international reserves at US$100.8bil

PETALING JAYA: Bank Negara’s international reserves rose US$300mil to US$100.80bil as at Sept 15, from two weeks earlier.

The central bank said in a press statement that the reserves were sufficient to finance 7.7 months of retained imports and was 1.1 times the short-term external debt.

In ringgit terms, the reserves had increased by RM1.1bil to RM432.80bil from RM431.7bil.

Measures to stabilise the ringgit including asking exporters to convert three quarters of their earnings back into ringgit, together with rising exports and a weaker US dollar have helped shore up the central bank’s international reserves.

The central bank said in a statement on Wednesday that a Sept 18 Bloomberg article quoting Moody’s that Malaysia’s reserve buffer was among the weakest in Asia focused only on a rigid interpretation of two economic indicators and presented an unbalanced and simplistic assessment of the country’s international reserves adequacy.

Responding to the article, it said the reporting by the financial newswire reflected a lack of understanding of the Malaysian economy, external position, financial system and its economic policies.

Instead, it explained that the indicators should be placed in context and emphasised that an assessment of the adequacy of reserves should be undertaken with a broader review of Malaysia’s economic and financial developments.