According to the Ministry of Finance, Lebanon’s gross public debt added an annual 8.31% to reach $83.69B by August 2018, on the back of an 18.64% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in foreign currency debt and a 1.82% y-o-y uptick in local currency debt.
In details, debt denominated in local currency (LBP) constituted 57.75% of the gross public debt and climbed by an annual 1.82% to settle at $48.33B. Meanwhile, debt in foreign currency (grasping 42.25% of gross public debt) surged by a yearly 18.64% to stand at $35.36B by August 2018.
The central bank (BDL) held the lion’s share of local currency debt, with a stake of 48.4%. As such, Lebanese commercial banks and other non-banking sectors held the remaining respective shares of 36.4% and 15.2%, over the same period.
In addition, according to the Association of Banks (ABL), 93.8% of the foreign currency debt was in the form of Eurobonds, while multilateral loans and bilateral loans constituted 3.8% and 2.3% of foreign currency debt, and the remaining 0.1% was from other private sources.
Holders of the Local Currency Debt
Source: ABL, Ministry of Finance