KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 21): Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves rose to US$124.1 billion as at Nov 14, 2025, reaching an 11-year high, according to the central bank’s latest update on Friday.

The figure was slightly higher than the US$123.8 billion recorded as at Oct 31, 2025, a modest gain in foreign currency assets and valuation adjustments. The reserves are now at their strongest level since 2014. 

BNM said the reserves are sufficient to finance 4.8 months of imports of goods and services, and cover 0.9 times the country’s short-term external debt.

Short-term external borrowings refer to debts with a maturity of one year or less, largely made up of foreign currency liquidity operations by resident banks, and borrowings by multinational corporations, including foreign banks, from their overseas parent entities.

These borrowings are typically met through borrowers’ own external assets in the normal course of business, and do not impose claims on the central bank’s reserves.

Among the key components, foreign currency reserves rose slightly to US$109.6 billion (Oct 31: US$109.3 billion), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve position remained unchanged at US$1.3 billion. Meanwhile the special drawing rights (SDRs) eased marginally to US$5.9 billion from US$6.0 billion.

The gold holdings, otherwise stayed flat at US$4.8 billion and other reserve assets edged up to US$2.5 billion from US$2.4 billion.

The latest position followed a mild dip from the previous peak of US$123.6 billion as at Sept 30, which BNM attributed to revaluation effects and foreign currency adjustments. BNM releases its international reserves data every two weeks.