During the week ending March 23rd, Broad Money M3 increased by a weekly LBP 55B ($37M) to reach LBP 201,986B ($134B). Moreover, M3 recorded a 7.84% annual increase and a 1.48% rise since the start of the year.
M1 dropped by LBP 241B ($160M) over the same period to LBP 8,926B ($5.92B). The fall is mainly attributed to the respective decrease of LBP 138B ($92M) in demand deposits and of LBP 103B ($68M) in currency in circulation.
Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) rose by LBP 296B ($196M) during the week, as term and savings deposits denominated in local currency went down by LBP 42B ($28M) and deposits denominated in foreign currencies grew by $223M.
Over the above mentioned period, the broad money dollarization rate rose from 59.26% on March 16th to 59.41% on March 23rd. According to the Central Bank, the overnight interbank rate remained stable at 3% between December 2016 and January 2017.
In the Treasury Bills auction held on March 23rd, 2017, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 73B ($48M), through the issuance of bills maturing in 3 months (6M) and 12M and notes maturing in 60M. The highest demand was achieved on the 12M notes and 60M bills, which each accounted for 36% of total subscriptions, while the 3M bills accounted for the remaining share of 28%. The discount rate on the 3M and 12M bills stood at 4.39% and 5.08%, respectively. Whereas the coupon rate on the 60M bills stood at 6.74%. Existing maturities exceeded new subscriptions by LBP 184B ($122M).