International reserves at US$103.6 bln as of Dec 31
KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia’s international reserves rose to US$103.6 billion as of Dec 31, 2019, from US$103.3 billion on Dec 13 last year.
In a statement, the central bank said the reserves level had taken into account the quarterly foreign exchange revaluation changes, and would be sufficient to finance 7.5 months of retained imports and was 1.1 times total shortterm external debt.
BNM said the components of international comprised foreign currency reserves (US$97.2 billion), International Monetary Fund reserves position (US$1.1 billion), Special Drawing Rights (SDR) (US$1.1 billion), gold (US$1.9 billion), and other reserve assets (US$2.3 billion).
It said assets included gold, foreign exchange and other reserves including SDRs, which amounted to RM424.12 billion, Malaysian government papers (RM1.98 billion), deposits with financial institutions (RM2.63 billion), loans and advances (RM7.11 billion), land and buildings (RM4.16 billion), and other assets (RM11.64 billion).
Capital and liabilities comprised paid-up capital (RM100 million), reserves (RM143.22 billion), currency in circulation (RM114.09 billion), deposits by financial institutions (RM163.92 billion), federal government deposits (RM3.57 billion), other deposits (RM542.98 million), Bank Negara Papers (RM15.83 billion), allocation of SDRs (RM7.62 billion), and other liabilities (RM2.74 billion). — Bernama
SHORT-TERM interbank rates closed stable yesterday on Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) operations to absorb surplus liquidity from the financial system. The surplus in the conventional system went up to RM25.20 billion from RM25.14 billion this morning, while in the Islamic system, it declined to RM13.40 billion from RM17.94 billion.
Earlier on today, the central bank conducted two money market tenders, one Qard tender Islamic range maturity auction (iRMA) and one reverse repo tender.
At 4 pm, the central bank conducted a RM24.80 billion conventional money market tender and a RM12.90 billion Murabahah money market tender, both for one-day money. The average Islamic overnight interest rate stood at 2.96 per cent, while the one-, two- and three-week rates were pegged at 3.03 per cent, 3.07 per cent and 3.12 per cent, respectively.