Malaysia : Forex reserves at record $43.2b.

Byline: Mamta03

The gross international reserves of Bangko Sentral rose to a new record high of $43.2 billion at the end of October, exceeding this year s target of $42 billion to $43 billion.

The reserves, consisting of dollars, gold and other foreign currency holdings held by the central bank, climbed to their end-September level of $42.56 billion on rising metal prices and increased foreign loans.

The national government deposited proceeds of a $1-billion global bond issue as well as a loan tapped from the Asian Development Bank with Bangko Sentral, boosting the international reserves.

Gold prices have risen to over $1,000 per ounce last month following China s purchases. The higher gold prices raised the value of the central bank s metal holdings to $5.275 billion at the end of October from $5.01 billion at the end of September.

The central bank also reported an increase in foreign investments to $36.19 billion at the end of October from $35.8 billion in the previous month.

Government s foreign borrowings, coupled with the increase in gold prices and foreign investments, helped offset the payment of $1.42 billion in maturing foreign obligations.

The official reserves are likely to increase in the coming months as remittances surge. Maturing foreign obligations in the last two months of the year amount to less than $500 million.

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