KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): Malaysia’s international reserves fell by US$1.5 billion at end-March compared with mid-month levels, according to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

The central bank said in a statement on Tuesday that foreign reserves stood at US$126.6 billion as at March 31, down from US$128.1 billion on March 13.

Among the reserve components, foreign currency reserves declined to US$110.8 billion from US$112.4 billion, while other reserves edged down to US$2.2 billion from US$2.3 billion.

Special drawing rights — reserve assets maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) based on a basket of currencies — slipped to US$5.9 billion from US$6 billion. Gold holdings, however, rose to US$6.4 billion from US$6.1 billion.

Malaysia’s reserve position with the IMF was unchanged at US$1.3 billion.

BNM said the reserves level remains adequate, sufficient to finance 4.6 months of imports of goods and services, and equivalent to 0.9 times the country’s total short-term external debt. The reserves figure has taken into account quarterly foreign exchange revaluation changes.

Short-term external debt comprises borrowings from non-residents with a maturity of one year or less, mainly by resident banks for foreign currency liquidity operations, as well as multinational corporations — including foreign banks — borrowing from their overseas parent companies or headquarters.

The obligations can be met in the normal course of operations from their external asset holdings and do not pose any claims on BNM's international reserves.