According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets declined by 8.27% compared to last year, to reach $93.48B by mid-April 2024, amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL since February 1st 2024. The fall was mainly due to the 98.9% year-on-year (YOY) drop in other assets, which reached $116.11M by mid-April 2024 compared to $10,587M by April 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 23.18% of BDL’s total assets, increased by 15.87% yearly to reach $21.67B by mid-April 2024 due to the increase in the price of gold worldwide. Additionally, BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 15.89% of total assets, rose by 2.48% YOY and stood at $14.86B by mid-April 2024, and increased by $43.77M in the first two weeks of April 2024. Additionally, BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 93.1% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 3.4% and reached $87.02B by mid-April 2024 compared to last year, of which more than 90% are denominated in dollars. Moreover, public sector deposits, representing 4.81% of BDL’s total liabilities, dropped by 19.87% yearly and reached $4.5B by mid-April 2024. Lastly, currency in Circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 0.74% of BDL’s total liabilities, plunged by 84.32% annually to reach $695M by mid-April 2024 amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL.
BDL Total assets, Foreign assets and Currency in Circulation by mid-April 2024 ($B):
Source: BDL, Blominvest
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