Bank Negara Malaysia published updated data showing international reserves of USD118.4 billion as at 15 April 2025, sufficient to finance 4.9 months of imports of goods and services and equivalent to 0.9 times total short-term external debt. Under the previous import coverage measure, reserves were sufficient to finance 5.8 months of retained imports of goods. The short-term external debt comparison uses reserves as at 15 April 2025 and short-term external debt data as at the fourth quarter of 2024, with the debt valued at the exchange rate as at the fourth quarter of 2024. Short-term external debt is defined as borrowing from non-residents with maturity of one year or less, accounted mostly by resident banks’ foreign currency liquidity operations and multinational corporations’ borrowing from overseas parents or headquarters; these obligations are described as being met in the normal course of operations from external asset holdings and not posing claims on Bank Negara Malaysia’s international reserves.
Bank Negara Malaysia 2025-04-22
Bank Negara Malaysia reports international reserves of USD118.4 billion with 4.9 months of import cover
Bank Negara Malaysia reported international reserves of USD118.4 billion as of 15 April 2025, covering 4.9 months of imports and 0.9 times total short-term external debt. The reserves are sufficient to meet short-term external obligations, primarily from resident banks and multinational corporations, without impacting the central bank's reserves.