Malaysia's reserves rise

Malaysia's reserves rise

KUALA LUMPUR (Bloomberg): Malaysia's central bank said on
Monday that the country's foreign exchange reserves rose 5.5
percent to $22.64 billion as of Oct. 15, compared with two weeks
earlier.

In local currency terms, foreign reserves jumped to 109.74
billion ringgit from 81.5 billion ringgit two weeks earlier, the
central bank said.

The rise in foreign exchange reserves come after Malaysia
imposed capital controls on Sept. 2, including making ringgit
deposits outside the country worthless.

As a result of the restrictions, the central bank become the
final buyer and seller of foreign currencies, making exporters
sell their foreign currencies to the central bank.

Malaysia is expected to swing to a current account surplus of
20.1 billion ringgit this year, from a deficit of 14.1 billion
ringgit in 1997. More money is flowing into the country, boosting
the foreign exchange reserves.