According to the balance sheet of Banque du Liban (BDL), the central bank’s total assets declined by 10.10% compared to last year, to reach $93.92B by end of June 2024, amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL since February 1st 2024. The fall was mainly due to the 97.81% year-on-year (YOY) drop in other assets, which reached $149.63M by end of June 2024 compared to $6,838M by June 30th, 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 22.87% of BDL’s total assets, increased by 21.02% yearly to reach $21.48B by end of June 2024 as a result of the increase in the price of gold worldwide. Moreover, BDL’s foreign assets, consisting of 16.1% of total assets, rose by 5.72% YOY and stood at $15.12B by end of June 2024, while it decreased by $21.82M in the last two weeks of June 2024. Additionally, BDL holds in its foreign assets $5B in Lebanese Eurobonds.
On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 92.69% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 2.69% and reached $87.05B by end of June 2024 compared to last year, of which more than 90% are denominated in dollars. Moreover, public sector deposits, representing 5.15% of BDL’s total liabilities, dropped by 30.02% yearly and reached $4.84B by end of June 2024. Lastly, currency in circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 0.72% of BDL’s total liabilities, plunged by 87.53% annually to reach $675M by end of June 2024 amid adopting the 89,500 LBP/USD official rate by BDL.
BDL Total Assets, Foreign Assets and Currency in Circulation by end of June 2024 ($B):
Source: BDL, Blominvest
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