Malaysia's international reserves amounting to RM436.5 billion or US $ 105 billion as at 30 September 2020 are sufficient to finance 8.4 months of retained imports and 1.1 times the total short-term external debt.
According to Deputy Finance Minister I, Datuk Abd Rahim Bakri as quoted by Bernama, the country's reserves have shown an increase of US $ 1.4 billion compared to US $ 103.6 billion by the end of 2019.
“International reserves are used for certain purposes and not to fund budgets or fund economic stimulus packages following the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The economic stimulus package has been financed mainly through domestic loans from the local financial markets," he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said this to answer a question from Pang Hok Liong (PH-Labis) regarding the total national and international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) as of September 2020.
The national reserves, which also refer to BNM's international reserves, consist of foreign currency reserves, International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve positions, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), gold and other reserve assets.
