According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets fell by 37.46% compared to last year, to reach $101.26B by mid of March 2023, amid adopting the 15,000 LBP/USD official rate by BDL. The fall was mainly due to the 83.51% year-on-year (YOY) drop in other assets, grasping 9.79% of BDL’s total assets and reaching $9.90B by mid of March 2023. Furthermore, the gold account, representing 17.36% of BDL’s total assets, decreased by 1.22% yearly to reach $17.57B by mid of March 2023.
BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 14.29% of total assets dropped by 12.72% YOY and stood at $14.47B by mid of March 2023, noting that BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds. On a different note, total volume of dollars on Sayrafa platform reached $476M in the first two weeks of March 2023 while BDL’s foreign assets decreased by $260.45M during the same period.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 88.62% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 18.05% and reached $89.74B by mid of March 2023 compared to last year, of which more than two thirds are denominated in dollars. Lastly, currency in Circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 4.53% of BDL’s total liabilities, plunged by 81.27% annually to reach $4.58B by mid of March 2023 amid adopting the 15,000 LBP/USD official rate by BDL.
BDL Total, Foreign assets and Currency in Circulation by mid of March ($B):
Source: BDL, Blominvest
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