According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets fell by 38.32% compared to last year, to reach $101.91B by mid-April 2023, amid adopting the 15,000 LBP/USD official rate by BDL. The fall was mainly due to the 83.24% year-on-year (YOY) drop in other assets, grasping 10.39% of BDL’s total assets and reaching $10.59B by mid-April 2023. Furthermore, the gold account, representing 18.35% of BDL’s total assets, increased by 2.99% yearly to reach $18.70B by mid-April 2023.
BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 14.22% of total assets dropped by 11.32% YOY and stood at $14.50B by mid-April 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 $841.85M in the first two weeks of April 2023 while, surprisingly BDL’s foreign assets increased by $87.15M during the same period.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 88.40% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 18.32% and reached $90.09B by mid-April 2023 compared to last year, of which more than 90% are denominated in dollars. Lastly, currency in Circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 4.35% of BDL’s total liabilities, plunged by 82.48% annually to reach $4.43B by mid-April 2023 amid adopting the 15,000 LBP/USD official rate by BDL.
BDL Total, Foreign assets and Currency in Circulation by mid-April 2023 ($B):
Source: BDL, Blominvest
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