Seigniorage in the Lebanese Economy:A Tale from the Pre-Crisis and Crisis Years

In mid-October 2019, just before the onset of the Lebanese financial crisis, the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL) published its bi-weekly balance sheet in which the second largest item after foreign assets was ‘other assets’, which was explained to comprise of open market operations and seigniorage and equal to a hefty $22.8 billion. Given that seigniorage is the return or revenue that accrues to BDL from its exclusive right and ability to print ‘costless’ money, then one is tempted to consider that most of the $22.8 billion was made up of seigniorage. But was it?

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