During the week of September 27, Broad Money (M3) declined by a weekly LBP 100B ($66M) to stand at LBP 212,524B ($140.98B). M3 rose by an annual 1.51% and by 2.13% since December 2017.

In details, M1 increased by LBP 66B ($44B) during the week ending September 27, to reach LBP 10,991B ($7.29B). This came on the back of a LBP 208B ($138M) increase in demand deposits and a LBP 142B ($94M) decrease in currency in circulation.

Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) fell by LBP 166B ($110M) over the same period, owing it to a $228M increase in deposits denominated in foreign currencies. Meanwhile, Term and saving deposits in LBP declined by LBP 510B ($338M) over the week.

Accordingly, the broad money dollarization rate rose from 62.65% in the week ending September 20, to 62.84% by the week ending September 27 2018. According to the Central Bank, the overnight interbank rate was maintained at 5% from July 2018 to August 2018.

In the Treasury Bills Auction held on September 20, 2018, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 103B ($68M), through the issuance of bills maturing in 3 months (3M) and 12 months (12M), and notes maturing in 5 years (5Y). The highest demand was achieved on the 12M bills, which accounted for 51.20% of total subscriptions, while the 3M bills and 5Y notes accounted for the remaining shares of 24.54% and 24.26%, respectively. The discount rate on the 3M bills and 6M bills stood at 4.39% and 5.08%, respectively, while the coupon rate on the notes maturing in 5Y at 6.74%.