Bank Negara Malaysia published its latest international reserves data, reporting reserves of USD119.1 billion as at 15 May 2025. The reserves position was stated to be sufficient to finance 5.0 months of imports of goods and services and to cover 0.9 times the total short-term external debt. Under the previous import coverage measure, the same reserves level would have financed 5.9 months of retained imports of goods. The short-term external debt comparison uses reserves data as at 15 May 2025 and short-term external debt data as at the first quarter of 2025, and defines short-term external debt as borrowing from non-residents with a maturity of one year or less, accounted for mostly by resident banks’ foreign currency liquidity operations and multinational companies borrowing from their overseas parents or headquarters.
Bank Negara Malaysia 2025-05-22
Bank Negara Malaysia reports USD119.1 billion in international reserves covering 5.0 months of imports as at 15 May 2025
Bank Negara Malaysia reported international reserves of USD119.1 billion as of 15 May 2025, sufficient to finance 5.0 months of imports and cover 0.9 times the total short-term external debt. The reserves would have financed 5.9 months of retained imports under the previous measure. Short-term external debt is defined as borrowing from non-residents with a maturity of one year or less.