This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 22, 2018 - June 28, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves had dipped 0.55% to US$107.9 billion (RM432.68 billion) as at June 14, from US$108.5 billion as at May 31.

In a statement yesterday, BNM said the current reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.5 months of retained imports and is one time the short-term external debt.

Foreign currency, the biggest portion, slipped to US$101.4 billion from US$102.1 billion as at May 31, while the International Monetary Fund reserves position stayed at US$800 million.

Special drawing rights and gold were also maintained at US$1.2 billion and US$1.6 billion respectively, while other reserve assets increased to US$2.9 billion from US$2.8 billion.

The bank’s total assets stood at RM444.18 billion as at June 14, while currency in circulation was at RM114.79 billion.