KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — The outstanding amount of the Malaysian bond market stood at RM2.01 trillion as of December 2023, which increased by 1.01 per cent from RM1.99 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2023, according to the Bond and Sukuk Information Exchange or BIX Malaysia.
In its report about Malaysia’s bond and sukuk for the fourth quarter of 2023, the non-profit information platform said the largest outstanding bonds were from government issuances, which comprise 57.67 per cent of total issuances at RM1.16 trillion.
This was followed by corporate issuances of 25.39 per cent worth RM510.71 billion and quasi-government at RM340.76 billion or 16.94 per cent.
“As of October 31, 2023, its total value stands at RM2.0 trillion, constituting over 50 per cent of Malaysia’s capital market.
“Malaysia leads globally in sukuk, holding 35 per cent of the total outstanding sukuk, surpassing Saudi Arabia and Indonesia,” said BIX Malaysia, which is an affiliate of the Securities Commission Malaysia.
By asset class, BIX Malaysia said the outstanding amount of the government bond and sukuk stood at RM603.56 billion and RM556.30 billion, respectively, as of the end of 2023.
“The conventional quasi-government outstanding amount stood at RM23.59 billion compared to its Islamic counterpart which stood at RM318.16 billion.
“For corporate issuances, the conventional bond outstanding amounted to RM113.93 billion, while the corporate sukuk recorded RM396.77 billion,” it said.
BIX Malaysia said the Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) yields experienced a quarterly decline, with the three-year yield decreasing by six basis points (bps) and the 10-year yield seeing a 23 bps drop.
It said the Government Investment Issues (GII) performance also decreased by 11 bps for the three-year and 23 bps for the 10-year.
This is attributed to a reduction in foreign selling of bonds, which has been observed since late October and is linked to the persistently hawkish stance of the United States Federal Reserve and the unexpectedly robust growth of the US economy, it said.
“As of December 2023, the outstanding amount of MGS/GII was RM1.17 trillion.
“This is because the government aims to minimise refinancing risk by decreasing funding through short-term papers, despite Treasury Bills constituting less than three per cent of the overall outstanding ringgit government debts,” BIX Malaysia said.
— Bernama
