KUALA LUMPUR: Only 25 per cent of the total foreign reserves are with the central bank, said Bank Negara Malaysia governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim.
The remaining 75 per cent is with the banking system and the corporates.
At US$94.9 billion (RM420.41 billion), the level is four times more than in 1997 while assets have also risen to RM450 billion from RM100 billion then.
Bank Negara decentralised the reserves a few years ago.
At US$94.9 billion, the position is sufficient to finance 8.3 months of retained imports, well above the three-month threshold level.
“We are comfortable with the level. Most importantly, it must provide liquidity to the system,” he said.
Since the bank announced the foreign exchange measures in December, there has been an improvement and the amount of US dollars in the market will continue to rise in the next three months.
For the first two months, the conversion level was at positive US$2.2 billion from a negative US$8.5 billion in 2015 and negative US$500 million last year. Rupa Damodaran