BDL’s Foreign Reserve Assets Stand at $11.67B after a $212.33M Drop in the First Two Weeks of March 2026

According to Banque du Liban’s (BDL) balance sheet, the Central Bank’s total assets decreased by 0.36% Year-on-Year (YoY), reaching $93.26B by mid-March 2026.

Furthermore, the gold account, representing 50.35% of BDL’s total assets, increased by 70.05% yearly to reach $46.95B by mid-March 2026. Regarding foreign assets item, recently BDL amended it and replaced it by foreign reserve assets item to include only non-resident and liquid foreign assets. Thus, other resident and / or illiquid assets were transferred to securities portfolio or loans to local financial sector. In more details, Lebanese Government Eurobonds with a nominal value of $4.85B were transferred to securities portfolio; whereas $298.8M was transferred to loans to financial sector. As such, BDL foreign reserve assets, consisting of 12.51% of total assets (after transferring the Eurobonds to securities portfolio and the other resident and / or illiquid assets to loans to financial sector) rose by 8.55% YoY and stood at $11.67B by mid-March 2026. Additionally, foreign reserve assets decreased by $212.3M in the first two weeks of March 2026.

On the liabilities front, financial sector deposits, representing 87.58% of BDL’s total liabilities, decreased by 4.01% annually and reached $81.67B by mid-March 2026 compared to last year, of which more than 90% are denominated in dollars. Moreover, public sector deposits, representing 9.96% of BDL’s total liabilities, surged by 43.18% yearly and reached $9.29B by mid-March 2026. Lastly, currency in circulation outside of BDL, consisting of 0.81% of BDL’s total liabilities, fell by 21.94% annually to reach $751.25M by mid-March 2026.

BDL Total Assets, Foreign Reserve Assets and Currency in Circulation by Mid-March 2026 ($B):

 _{Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST}

N.B.: The foreign assets figures starting 2023 in the above graph are net of Lebanese Eurobonds.

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