According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets declined by 7.83% compared to last year, to reach $93.41B by end of March 2024, amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL since February 1st 2024. The fall was mainly due to the 98.92% year-on-year (YOY) drop in other assets, which reached $109.14M by end of March 2024 compared to $10,080M by March 31, 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 21.76% of BDL’s total assets, increased by 11.53% yearly to reach $20.33B by end of March 2024 due to the increase in the price of gold. Additionally, BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 15.86% of total assets, rose by 2.79% YOY and stood at $14.81B by end of March 2024, however decreased by $32.84M in the last two weeks of March 2024 mainly due to the increase in salaries of public sector employees. Additionally, BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 93.2% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 3.21% and reached $87.06B by end of March 2024 compared to last year, of which more than 90% are denominated in dollars. Moreover, public sector deposits, representing 4.76% of BDL’s total liabilities, dropped by 16.15% yearly and reached $4.45B by end of March 2024. Lastly, currency in Circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 0.72% of BDL’s total liabilities, plunged by 84.52% annually to reach $670M by end of March 2024 amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL.
BDL Total Assets, Foreign Assets and Currency in Circulation by end of March 2024 ($B):
Source: BDL, Blominvest
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