During the week ending on February 1, Broad Money (M3) grew by a weekly LBP 380B ($252M) to reach LBP 208,310B ($138B). On a yearly basis, M3 added 3.97% and marginally rose by 0.11% since the start of the year.

M1 increased by LBP 511B ($339M) to LBP 10,149B ($6.7B) over the week. The rise is attributed to a LBP 272B ($180M) incline in currency in circulation and a LBP 239B ($159M) growth in demand deposits.

Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) fell by LBP 130B ($86M) over the same week, on the back of Deposits denominated in foreign currencies falling by $70M and Term and savings deposits denominated in local currency (LBP) dropping LBP 25B ($16M) during the week.

The Broad Money dollarization rate fell from 61.93% last week to 61.78% by February 1. According to the Central Bank, the overnight interbank rate steadied at 4% in December 2017.

In the Treasury Bills Auction held on February 8, 2018, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 507B ($336M), through the issuance of bills maturing in 3 months (3M) and 1 year (1Y), as well as notes maturing in 5Y. The largest demand was achieved on the 5Y notes, which accounted for 59% of total subscriptions, while the 3M and the 1Y bills accounted for the remaining shares of 20% and 21%, respectively. The discount rate 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%. The new subscriptions exceeded the existing maturities by LBP 236B ($157M).