According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets declined by 9.57% compared to last year, to reach $93.82B by end of May 2024, amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL since February 1st 2024. The fall was mainly due to the 98.12% year-on-year (YOY) drop in other assets, which reached $127.92M by end of May 2024 compared to $6,821M by May 31st, 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 23.04% of BDL’s total assets, increased by 19.66% yearly to reach $21.61B by end of May 2024 as a result of the increase in the price of gold worldwide. Moreover, BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 16.08% of total assets, rose by 4.31% YOY and stood at $15.08B by end of May 2024, and increased by $110.56M in the last two weeks of May 2024. Additionally, BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 92.81% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 2.91% and reached $87.07B by end of May 2024 compared to last year, of which more than 90% are denominated in dollars. Moreover, public sector deposits, representing 5.08% of BDL’s total liabilities, dropped by 29.29% yearly and reached $4.77B by end of May 2024. Lastly, currency in circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 0.7% of BDL’s total liabilities, plunged by 87.77% annually to reach $659M by end of May 2024 amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL.
BDL Total Assets, Foreign Assets and Currency in Circulation by End of May 2024 ($B):
Source: BDL, Blominvest
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