According to BDL’s latest monetary report, the BOP recorded a cumulative deficit of $3.2B by December 2022, far exceeding the deficit over the same period last year which totaled only $2B. Accordingly, Net foreign Assets (NFAs) of BDL fell by $3.04B, as BDL has continued to make some intervention on Forex market through the “Sayrafa” rate while the NFAs of commercial banks dropped by $152.9M by December 2022.
On a monthly basis, the BOP recorded a surplus of $17.1M, the third in the year; as NFAs of BDL decreased by $5.4M whereas NFAs of Commercial banks increased by $22.5M.
For a meaningful analysis, we examine the NFAs of commercial banks. For the month of December, it was dominated by the decrease in foreign liabilities and a rise in foreign assets. On the liabilities side, “Non-resident financial sector liabilities” decreased by $1.54M, to reach $4.3B, while “Non-resident customers’ deposits” fell by $19.7M, to reach $23.4B by December 2022. Meanwhile, on the asset side, “claims on non-resident financial sector” added $86.1M to reach $4.2B for the same period, and other foreign assets added $42.79M to $2.49B, however “claims on non-resident customers” dropped by $117.86M to stand at $2.04B by December 2022.
Balance of Payments (BoP) by December 2022 (in $M)
