According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets fell by 8.39% compared to last year, to reach $93B by mid of February 2024, amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL since February 1st 2024. The fall was mainly due to the 99.05% year-on-year (YOY) drop in other assets and reached $93.25M by mid of February 2024 compared to 9,804M by February 15, 2023. Interesting to mention that 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 19.81% of BDL’s total assets, increased by 8.85% yearly to reach $18.42B by mid of February 2024. Additionally, BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 15.76% of total assets, dropped by 1.07% YOY and stood at $14.66B by mid of February 2024, increasing by $75M from end of January 2024. Noting that BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 93.4% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 3.58% and reached $86.87B by mid of February 2024 compared to last year, of which more than 90% are denominated in dollars. Lastly, currency in Circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 0.67% of BDL’s total liabilities, plunged by 87.62% annually to reach $622M by mid of February 2024 amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL.
BDL Total, Foreign assets and Currency in Circulation by mid of February 2024 ($B):
Source: BDL, Blominvest
By Helmi Mrad
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