Bank Negara’s international reserves at US$96.7b

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia’s international reserves totalled RM364.7bil (US$96.7bil) as end-July, which a decline of RM14.7bil or US$3.8bil from two weeks ago.

“The reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.6 months of retained imports and is 1.1 times the short-term external debt,” the central bank said on Friday.

The reserves had fallen from the RM379.4bil (US$100.5bil) as at July 15. The reserves position as at July 15 was sufficient to finance 7.9 months of retained imports and was 1.1 times the short-term external debt.

The ringgit has weakened by nearly 12% against the US dollar year-to-date.

According to the BNM data, the international reserves had fallen from RM405.5bil (or US$116.0bil) as at Dec 31, 2014 compared with RM441.9bil (US$134.9bil) as at end-2013.