According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets fell by 43.5% compared to last year, to reach $107.17B by end of December 2023, amid adopting the 15,000 LBP/USD official rate by BDL since February 2023. The fall was mainly due to the 99.7% year-on-year (YOY) drop in other assets. Interesting to note that other assets fell by 96.29% in the last two weeks of December, as they reached $283.75M by end of December 2023 compared to 7,648M by December 15, 2023. Indeed, based on Central Council decision number 23/36/45 dated 20/12/2023, all previous Central Council decisions related to Seigniorage were suspended and all deferred interest costs emanating from open-market operations were presented under a new line item. As a result, all deferred interest costs included in Other Assets and Assets from Exchange Operations amounting to LBP 118.97 Trillion as of 31/12/2023 were transferred to “Deferred Open-Market Operations”.
Furthermore, the gold account, representing 17.88% of BDL’s total assets, increased by 15.1% yearly to reach $19.17B by end of December 2023. Additionally, BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 13.56% of total assets dropped by 4.32% YOY and stood at $14.53B by end of December 2023, noting that BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds. Interesting to note that foreign assets increased by $48.87M in the last two weeks of December 2023 and increased by $739.6M since end of July 2023.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 83.27% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 15.02% and reached $89.25B by end of December 2023 compared to last year, of which more than 90% are denominated in dollars. Lastly, currency in Circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 3.61% of BDL’s total liabilities, plunged by 92.72% annually to reach $3.87B by end of December 2023 amid adopting the 15,000 LBP/USD official rate by BDL.
BDL Total, Foreign assets and Currency in Circulation by end of December 2023 ($B):
Source: BDL, Blominvest
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