KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves rose by US$1.2 billion to US$125.5 billion as at Dec 31, 2025, according to the central bank’s latest update released on Thursday.
The reserve level is higher than the previous high of US$124.3 billion recorded as at Dec 15, 2025, marking Malaysia’s strongest reserves position since 2014.
BNM said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 4.7 months of imports of goods and services and cover 0.9 times the nation’s total short-term external debt.
Short-term external borrowings are defined as debts with maturities of one year or less.
They largely comprise foreign currency liquidity operations by resident banks, as well as borrowings by multinational corporations, including foreign banks, from their overseas parent or headquarters.
BNM said these obligations are typically serviced through borrowers’ own external assets in the normal course of business, and therefore do not place claims on the central bank’s reserves.
Breaking down the components, foreign currency reserves stood at US$110.5 billion as at Dec 31, compared with US$109.9 billion as at Dec 15.
The International Monetary Fund reserves position was unchanged at US$1.3 billion, while special drawing rights (SDRs) remained at US$5.9 billion.
Gold holdings rose to US$5.4 billion from US$4.8 billion previously. Other reserve assets were unchanged at US$2.4 billion.
BNM said the reserves figure has taken into account quarterly foreign exchange revaluation changes.
The central bank releases its international reserves data on a fortnightly basis.