KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) total assets stood at RM551.61 billion as of Dec 31, 2021, with international reserves portfolio constituting 88 per cent of its assets at RM486.85 billion.
Meanwhile, its liabilities arise mainly from deposits by financial institutions (RM159.89 billion) and currency in circulation (RM150.07 billion), the bank said in its Annual Report 2021 released today.
Although it is a statutory body, the central bank said it does not rely on public funds from the government to support its day-to-day operations.
Instead, its operations are funded by income generated from its investments of the country’s international reserves.
“In 2021, we generated a total income of RM14.72 billion in 2021, net of costs associated with managing the international reserves portfolio and conducting monetary operations.
“Against this, we incur expenses to manage and administer our operations (recurring expenditure) and expenses to finance developmental and long-term projects in line with our principal objects and functions (development expenditure),” it said.
This includes expenditures incurred for its currency operations and to maintain the country’s payment infrastructure, said BNM, adding that these expenditures amounted to RM1.89 billion in 2021.
“We also generated RM12.80 billion in net profit after tax, of which RM7.80 billion will be transferred into the General Reserve Fund, while the remaining RM5 billion in net profit will be paid as dividend to the government,” it said.
The central bank said it manages its finances with the objective of ensuring that it has the resources to discharge its mandates to promote monetary and financial stability conducive to the sustainable growth of the Malaysian economy.
“In keeping with these mandates, we are committed to being responsible, prudent and disciplined in managing our resources,” it added.
— Bernama
