RHB | Malaysia | Foreign Exchange Reserves Continued Its Descent In August

Economic Research	07 September 2015
Malaysia
Economic Highlights
Foreign Exchange Reserves Continued Its Descent In August The foreign exchange reserves posted a smaller drop of USD2.0bn in August to USD94.7bn as at 28 August, compared with a sharp decline of USD8.8bn in July and USD0.9bn in June (see Figure 1). This suggests that the Central Bank may have toned down their pace of intervention, as past interventions had posed a significant drain on reserves. In ringgit terms, the foreign exchange reserves fell by MYR7.0bn in August to MYR357.7bn as at 28 August, after falling by MYR33.4bn, the single largest monthly loss in almost seven years in the previous month. At the current level, the foreign exchange reserves are sufficient to finance 7.4 months of retained imports and cover 1.0 time the short-term external debt of the nation, compared with 9.0 months of retained imports and 1.2 times the short-term external debt in the same period a year ago. Economist:  Peck Boon Soon  | +603 9280 2163 Economist:  Vincent Loo Yeong Hong  | +603 9280 2172
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