BDL’s Liquid Foreign Assets Less Than $10B

According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets added 5.96% compared to last year, to reach $169.28B by end of August 2022. The increase was mainly due to the 25.79% year-on-year (YOY) rise in other assets, grasping 42.03% of BDL’s total assets and reaching $71.15B by end of August 2022. Furthermore, the gold account, representing 9.45% of BDL’s total assets, decreased by 4.42% yearly to reach $15.99B by end of August 2022.

Meanwhile, BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 8.71% of total assets, recorded a drop of 17.29% YTD and stood at $14.75B by end of August 2022, noting that BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds. Moreover, total volume of dollars injected into the market through Sayrafa platform reached $349M in the last two weeks of August, while foreign assets of BDL dropped by $396M during the same period. It is important to note that Sayrafa traded volume reached $7.98B since year start, whereas BDL’s foreign assets seem to decrease at a slower path as they decreased by $3.08B since year start. However, as Central Bank’s intervention into the market through Sayrafa was very costly, and posed burden on the exchange rate, BDL is trying to restrict its Sayrafa operations by limiting its support to fuel companies by 40% instead of 100%, and perhaps it will cover less than 40% in the future.

On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 64.29% of BDL’s total liabilities, increased by 1.28% and reached $108.83B by end of August 2022 compared to last year, of which more than two thirds are denominated in dollars.

Currency in Circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 17% of BDL’s total liabilities, increased annually by 5.88% and reached $28.79B by end of August 2022.

BDL Total, Foreign assets and Currency in Circulation by end of August ($B)

BDL’s Liquid Foreign Assets Less Than $10B

Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST

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