Data by the Lebanese Ministry of Finance (MoF) showed Broad Money (M3) dropped by LBP 595B ($395M) in the week ending November 21st 2019, to reach LBP 205,195B ($136B), thereby recording a yearly downtick of 2.98% and a 3.27% decrease since year start.
In details, M1 rose by LBP 536B ($356M) over the same week, to reach LBP 13,507B ($8.96B). The increase came on the back of the respective rises in Currency in circulation and in Demand deposits, by LBP 349B ($232M) and LBP 187B ($124M), respectively.
As such, Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) fell by LBP1,131B ($750M), owing it to an LBP1,466B ($973M) drop in Term and saving deposits which was outweighed by a $222M uptick in Deposits denominated in foreign currencies.
As such, the rate of broad money dollarization slightly decreased from 67.45% in the week ending November 14th to 67.81% recorded in the week ending November 21st 2019.
In the treasury bills (T-Bills) auction held on October 10th 2019, the Ministry of Finance raised LBP 811.57B ($538M) through the issuance of bills maturing in 6 months (6M), and notes maturing in 3 Years (3Y) and 7 Years (7Y). The highest demand was achieved on notes maturing in 7Y, grasping a share of 75.3% of the total subscriptions, while the 3Y notes and 6M bills accounted for the remaining shares of 24.6% and 0.1%, respectively. The discount rates on the 6M stood at 5.68%, while the Coupon rates on the notes maturing in 3Y and 7Y stood at 9% and 7.5%, respectively. It is worthy to note that new subscriptions exceed existing maturities by LBP646.33B ($429M).