According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets fell by 7.74% compared to last year, to reach $93.43B by mid-March 2024, amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL since February 1st 2024. The fall was mainly due to the 98.95% year-on-year (YOY) drop in other assets, which reached $103.73M by end of mid-March 2024 compared to $9,909M by March 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 21.44% of BDL’s total assets, increased by 13.95% yearly to reach $20.03B by mid-March 2024. Additionally, BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 15.89% of total assets, rose by 2.55% YOY and stood at $14.84B by mid-March 2024, thus increasing by $59.74M in the first two weeks of March 2024. Additionally, BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 93.17% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 3% and reached $87.05B by mid-March 2024 compared to last year, of which more than 90% are denominated in dollars. Lastly, currency in Circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 0.7% of BDL’s total liabilities, plunged by 85.79% annually to reach $651M by mid-March 2024 amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL.
BDL Total assets, Foreign assets and Currency in Circulation by mid-March 2024 ($B):
Source: BDL, Blominvest