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.