| ($B) | 21-Mar-23 | 14-Mar-24 | 21-Mar-24 | Change over the Period | Y-O-Y % Change | % Change y-t-d |
| M 1 | 6.09 | 0.939 | 0.935 | (0.004) | -84.64% | -83.10% |
| M 2 | 7.25 | 1.118 | 1.115 | (0.003) | -84.62% | -83.16% |
| M 3 | 80.94 | 70.31 | 70.28 | (0.03) | -13.17% | -8.67% |
| M 4 | 82.23 | 70.56 | 70.54 | (0.03) | -14.22% | -10.29% |
BDL’s latest statistics on money supply revealed that Broad Money (M3) decreased by LBP 2,359B to stand at LBP 6,290,000B ($70.28B) by the week ending March 21, 2024. Furthermore, on an annual basis, M3 decreased by 13.17% year-over-year and dropped by 8.67% since year-start (YTD). Noting that effective February 8th 2024, the official exchange rate has been set at LBP 89,500 per dollar.
In details, M1 contracted by LBP 340.22B during the week of 14 to 21 March 2024, due to a decrease in demand deposits of LBP 238.55 billion and in currency in circulation of LBP 101.67 billion.
In turn, total deposits (excluding Demand deposits) decreased by LBP 2,018B ($22.56M), owing to rise in Terms and saving deposits by LBP 33.90 billion ($379k) and drop in deposits denominated in foreign currencies by $ 22.94 million compared to the previous week.
As such, the rate of broad money dollarization slightly increased from 98.41% in the week ending March 14, 2024 to 98.414% in the week ending March 21, 2024.
Looking at interest rates, the average rate on deposits in LBP at commercial banks decreased from 0.6% in December 2022 to 0.55% in December 2023. By the same token, the average rate on deposits in USD at commercial banks decreased from 0.06% in December 2022 to 0.03% in December 2023. In its turn, the average lending rate in LBP and USD, at commercial banks, went down from 4.56% and 4.16% in December 2022 to 3.97% and 1.95%, respectively, in December 2023.
Analytically, the money supply M3 can be derived from combining the balance sheet of BDL with the balance sheet of banks to arrive at the monetary survey of the banking system. The resulting M3 would be equal to the sum of: net foreign assets (NFA), credit to the private sector (CPS), net credit to the public sector (NCPS), and other items net (OIN). Latest data show that in December 2023, M3 stood at LBP 1,166,205 B versus LBP 229,572B in December 2022; NFA were LBP 252,311B compared to LBP 18,197B in December 2022; CPS was LBP 123,712B compared to LBP 30,038B in December 2022; NCPS was LBP 790,552B compared to LBP 31,711B in December 2022; and OIN were negative LBP 370B compared to LBP 149,626B in December 2022.
Source: BDL; MoF