In the week ending April 25th 2019, Broad Money (M3) increased by a weekly LBP 120B ($79M) to stand at LBP 210,329B ($139.52B), declining 0.26% year-on-year (y-o-y) and 0.85% since the start of the year.
In details, M1 expanded by LBP 479B ($318) over the same week, to settle at LBP 10,360B ($6.87B). The rise is attributed to the increase in demand deposits by LBP 492B ($326.37M) which outweighed the decline in currency in circulation declined by LBP 13B ($8.62M).
Over the week, total deposits (excluding demand deposits) dropped by LBP 359.07B ($238.19M). The decline was driven by the $95M decrease in deposits denominated in foreign currencies as well by the LBP 215B ($142.62M) drop in term and saving deposits denominated in LBP.
As such, the rate of broad money dollarization marginally decreased to 64.20% in the week ending April 25th 2019, from 64.30% in the week ending April 18th 2019. In its turn, the average weekly interbank rate increased to 8% in the week of April 25th 2019 compared to 5% the previous week.
In the treasury bills (T-Bills) auction held on March 28th 2019, the Ministry of Finance raised LBP 1.26B ($806.87M) through the issuance of bills maturing in 6 months (6M) as well as notes maturing in 3 Years (3Y) and in 7 years (7Y). The highest demand was achieved on bills maturing in 7Y, grasping a share of 86.24% of total subscriptions. Meanwhile, the 6M and 3Y bills accounted for the remaining stakes of 13.15% and 0.60%, respectively. The discount rates on the 6M bills stood at 5.68% while the coupon rate on the notes maturing in 3Y and 7Y stood at 7.50% and 9%, respectively.