During the week ending on March 15, 2018, Broad Money (M3) declined by a weekly LBP 139B ($92M) to reach LBP 208,531B ($138B). On a yearly basis, M3 added 3.19% and marginally rose by 0.21% since the start of the year.

M1 also narrowed by LBP 94B ($62M) to LBP 10,094B ($6.7B) over the week. The drop is attributed to a LBP 38B ($25M) increase in demand deposits and a decrease of LBP 132B ($88M) in currency in circulation.

Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) dropped by LBP 46B ($30M) over the same week, on the back of a fall of $31M in deposits denominated in foreign currencies and a weekly rise of LBP 1B ($0.66M) in Term and savings deposits denominated in local currency (LBP).

The broad money dollarization rate rose from 61.60% last week to 61.61% by March 15, 2018. According to the Central Bank, the overnight interbank rate steadied at 4% in January 2018.

In the Treasury Bills Auction held on March 22, 2018, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 557B ($369M), through the issuance of bills maturing in 3 months (3M) and 12 months (12M), and notes maturing in 60 months (60M). The highest demand was achieved on the 60M notes, which accounted for 62.87% of total subscriptions, while the 3M and 12M bills es accounted for the remaining shares of 18.19% and 18.94%, respectively.

The discount rates on the 3M and 6M bills stood at 4.39% and 5.08%, respectively, while the coupon rate on the notes maturing in 60M stood at 6.74%. New subscriptions exceeded existing maturities by LBP 490B ($325M).