The Central Bank’s (BDL) balance sheet, revealed a 0.71% monthly rise in total assets to $85.26B by mid-September, mostly due to the 1.37% rise in its holding of foreign assets.
Foreign assets (excluding gold), took a share of 44.97% of total assets and settled at $38.34B by Mid-September. On the other hand, gold reserves dropped by 5.68% since mid-August to reach $11.40B. Worth noting that during this period, the price of gold was on a downtrend from its highest level, during the stated period, of $1,304.39/ounce on the 15th of August 2014, to $1,232.74/ ounce, its local minimum, on the 15th of September, recording a drop of 5.49%.
The central bank’s securities portfolio and loans to the local financial sector inched up by 2.16% and 2.90% in month-ago terms to reach $13.17B and $3.86B, respectively.
On the liabilities side, financial sector deposits expanded by 2.73% from mid-August to reach $65.26B in mid-September.
BdL total Assets by Mid-September
(In $B)
Source: Banque du Liban