During the week ending on August 16, Broad Money (M3) fell by a weekly LBP 76B ($50M) to reach LBP 211,611B ($140B). On a yearly basis, M3 added 1.37% and rose by 1.69% since the start of the year.
M1 dropped by LBP 204B ($135M) to reach LBP 11,061B ($7.3B) over the week due to a decrease in currency in circulation of LBP 242 billion ($161M) and an increase in demand deposits of LBP 38 billion ($25M)
Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) rose by LBP 128B ($85M) over the same week, since deposits denominated in foreign currencies expanded by USD 125M while Term and saving deposits in LBP declined by LBP 60 billion ($40M) during the week.
In turn, the broad money dollarization rate slightly rose from 62.03% in the week ending in August 9th to 62.13% by the week ending August 16nd. According to the Central Bank, the overnight interbank rate was maintained at 5% from May 2018 to June 2018.
In the Treasury Bills Auction held on August 23, 2018, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 101.95B ($68M), through the issuance of bills maturing in 3 months (3M) and 1 year (1Y), in addition to notes maturing in 5Y.
The highest demand was achieved on the 5Y bills, which accounted for 49.43% of total subscriptions, while the 3M and 1Y bills accounted for the remaining shares of 24.83% and 25.74%, respectively. The discount rates on the 3M and 1Y bills stood at 4.39% and 5.08%, respectively, while the coupon rate on the notes maturing in 5Y stood at 6.74%. New subscriptions exceeded existing maturities by LBP 10B ($6.6M).