According to the Lebanese Ministry of Finance (MoF), Broad Money (M3) dropped LBP 382B ($253M) in the week ending Sept. 12, 2019 to reach LBP 210,453B ($139.60B), thereby recording a yearly downtick of 1.10% and a 0.79% decrease since the start of the year.
In details, M1 declined by LBP 200B ($133M) over the same week, to reach LBP 11,0.37B ($7.32B). The decrease came on the back of a drop in Demand deposits and Currency in circulation by LBP 153B ($101.49M) and LBP 47B ($31.17M), respectively.
As such, Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) retreated by LBP 181.85B ($120.63M), owing it to a LBP 296B ($196.35M) downtick in Term and saving deposits. Meanwhile, Deposits denominated in foreign currencies rose by $ 76M.
As such, the rate of broad money dollarization rose from 65.62% in the week ending in the week ending Sept. 5th 2019 to 65.79% recorded in the week ending Sept. 12, 2019.
In the treasury bills (T-Bills) auction held on Sept. 05th 2019, the Ministry of Finance raised LBP 63.97B ($42.4M) through the issuance of notes maturing in 2 Years (2Y) and 5Y. The highest demand was achieved on notes maturing in 5Y, grasping a stake of 81.8% of the total subscriptions while the 2Y notes grasped a share of 18.2%. The coupon rates on the 2Y & 5Y bills stood at 6.5% and 8%, respectively. Lastly, the existing maturities exceeded the new subscriptions by LBP 23.81B ($15.8M).