In the week ending May 2, 2019, Broad Money (M3) increased by a weekly LBP 555B ($368B) to stand at LBP 210,885B ($139.89B), declining 0.06% year-on-year (y-o-y) and 0.59% since the start of the year.
In details, M1 expanded by LBP 189B ($125.37M) over the same week, to settle at LBP 10,548B ($7B). The rise is attributed to the increase in currency in circulation by LBP 274B ($181.75M) which outweighed the decline in demand deposits declined by LBP 85B ($56.38M).
Over the week, total deposits (excluding demand deposits) rose by LBP 366.39B. The decline was driven by the LBP 547B decrease in term and saving deposits denominated in LBP while deposits denominated in foreign currencies increased by $607M.
As such, the rate of broad money dollarization marginally rose to 64.46% in the week ending May 2 2019, from 64.20% in the week ending April 25th 2019. In its turn, the average weekly interbank rate decreased to 6% in the week of May 2, 2019 compared to 8% the previous week.
In the treasury bills (T-Bills) auction held on April 25th 2019, the Ministry of Finance raised LBP 162.77B ($107.97M) through the issuance of bills maturing in 6months (6M) as well as notes maturing in 3 Years (3Y) and in 7 years (7Y). The highest demand was achieved on bills maturing in 3Y, grasping a share of 66.74% of total subscriptions. Meanwhile, the 6M and 7Y bills accounted for the remaining stakes of 2.54% and 30.72%, 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.