Bank Negara Malaysia published its latest international reserves position, reporting reserves of USD125.6 billion as at 15 January 2026. It assessed this level as sufficient to finance 4.7 months of imports of goods and services and equivalent to 0.9 times total short-term external debt. Under the previous import coverage measure, the same reserves level would cover 5.6 months of retained imports of goods. The short-term external debt ratio uses reserves data as at 15 January 2026 and short-term external debt data as at the third quarter of 2025, with the debt valued using the exchange rate as at the third quarter of 2025; the short-term external debt comprises non-resident borrowing with maturity of one year or less and is accounted mostly by resident banks’ foreign currency liquidity operations and multinational corporates borrowing from overseas parents or headquarters.
Bank Negara Malaysia 2026-01-22
Bank Negara Malaysia reports USD125.6 billion in international reserves covering 4.7 months of imports
Bank Negara Malaysia reported international reserves of USD125.6 billion as of 15 January 2026, sufficient to finance 4.7 months of imports and equivalent to 0.9 times total short-term external debt. The reserves would cover 5.6 months of retained imports under the previous measure, with short-term external debt primarily from resident banks and multinational corporates.