KUALA LUMPUR — The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia amounted to USD129.5 billion as at 15 May 2026. The reserves position is sufficient to finance 4.6 months of imports of goods and services,[1] and is 0.9 times[2] of total short-term external debt.[3]
[1] Under the previous import coverage measure, reserves is sufficient to finance 6.0 months of retained imports of goods. For more information on the new indicator, please refer to the article on “Expansion of the Measure on Reserve Coverage of Imports – from Retained Imports to Imports of Goods and Services” in BNM’s Quarterly Bulletin for the Fourth Quarter of 2021 publication, page 27, which can be accessed at Quarterly Bulletin 4Q 2021.
[2]The ratio comprises the latest available data on reserves (as at 15 May 2026) and short-term external debt (available as at 1Q 2026). As per normal practice, the short-term external debt is valued using the exchange rate as at 1Q 2026.
[3] The short-term external debt comprises of borrowing from non-residents with maturity of one year or less. It is accounted mostly by resident banks in connection with their foreign currency liquidity operations and MNCs (including foreign banks) borrowing from their overseas parent/headquarters. These obligations can be met in the normal course of operations from their external asset holdings and do not pose any claims on BNM international reserves.
