According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets added 11.91% compared to last year, to reach $178.31B by end of September 2022. The increase was mainly due to the 41.96% year-on-year (YOY) rise in other assets, grasping 45.85% of BDL’s total assets and reaching $81.75B by end of September 2022. Furthermore, the gold account, representing 8.65% of BDL’s total assets, decreased by 3.41% yearly to reach $15.41B by end of September 2022.
Moreover, BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 8.36% of total assets, recorded a drop of 20.72% YOY and stood at $14.89B by end of September 2022, noting that BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds. Meanwhile, total volume of dollars injected into the market through Sayrafa platform reached $592.50M in the last two weeks of September, crucially, however, the foreign assets of BDL added by $278.01M during the same period. This could lead to one summary which is the Central Bank has absorbed the total of $870.51M during this period. In more details, Sayrafa traded volume reached $9.01B since year start, whereas BDL’s foreign assets seem to have decreased at a slower path as they decreased by $2.92B only.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 60.80% of BDL’s total liabilities, increased by 1.86% and reached $108.42B by end of September 2022 compared to last year, of which more than two thirds are denominated in dollars.
Currency in Circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 21.93% of BDL’s total liabilities, increased annually by 41.34% and reached $39.10B by end of September 2022.
BDL Total, Foreign assets and Currency in Circulation by end of September ($B)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST