BDL compiled January 2025 data using the two below sources as per the IMF recommendation to align with the International Norms:
According to BDL’s latest monetary report, the BOP recorded a surplus of $2,208.3M in January 2025, far above than the deficit over the same period last year of $111M.
Based on the BDL Central Council’s Decision Number 37/20/24 dated 13/09/2024, BDL’s foreign assets starting January 2024 include the Monetary Gold, the Non-Resident Foreign Securities held by BDL, and the Foreign Currencies & Deposits with Correspondent Banks & International Organization; while excluding the Lebanese Government’s Sovereign Bonds and the BDL loans in FX to Resident Banks and Financial Institutions. The significant increase in the change of BDL NFA is mainly explained by the increase in the value of the Monetary Gold.
Accordingly, Net Foreign Assets (NFAs) of BDL rose by $1,925M while the NFAs of commercial banks increased by $283.4M in January 2025.
For a more meaningful analysis, we examine the NFAs of commercial banks for the month of January 2025. On the liabilities side, “Non-resident financial sector liabilities” increased by $24.65M to reach $2.53B; in addition, “Non-resident customers’ deposits” declined by $24.13M to reach $20.89B. Meanwhile, on the asset side, “claims on non-resident financial sector” increased by $152.1M to reach $4.84B for the same period, while “other foreign assets” decreased by $34.06M to stand at $2.5B and “Non-resident securities portfolio” rose by $59.6M recording $864.75M.
Balance of Payments (BoP) by January 2025 (in $M)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST
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