KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian Central Bank has on Thursday lowered the country's statutory reserve requirement (SRR) ratio by 100 basis points, from 2 percent to 1 percent, effective May 16.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said in a statement that the decision to reduce the SRR is part of the bank's continuous efforts to ensure sufficient liquidity in the domestic financial system.

This will facilitate banks in better managing liquidity in an environment of greater financial market volatility and provide continued support for financial intermediation activity, it noted.

According to the bank, the SRR reduction will release approximately 19 billion ringgit (4.44 billion U.S. dollars) worth of liquidity into the banking system.

The SRR is an instrument to manage liquidity and is not a signal on the stance of monetary policy.