During the week ending on March 22, 2018, Broad Money (M3) grew by a weekly LBP 760B ($504M) to reach LBP 209,292B ($139B). On a yearly basis, M3 added 3.17% and marginally rose by 0.50% since the start of the year.

M1 also rose by LBP 96B ($64M) to LBP 10,190B ($6.8B) over the week. The rise is attributed to a LBP 202B ($134M) increase in demand deposits and a decrease of LBP 106B ($70M) in currency in circulation.

Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) rose by LBP 665B ($441M) over the same week, on the back of a $500M rise in deposits denominated in foreign currencies and a weekly drop of LBP 88B ($59M) in Term and savings deposits denominated in local currency (LBP).

The broad money dollarization rate rose from 61.61% last week to 61.75% by March 21, 2018. According to the Central Bank, the overnight interbank rate steadied at 4% in January 2018.

In the Treasury Bills Auction held on April 19, 2018, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 355B ($235M), 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 56.40% of total subscriptions, while the 3M and 12M bills accounted for the remaining shares of 21.34% and 22.26%, respectively.

The discount rates on the 3M and 12M 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 230B ($153M).