Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 253B through its April 27 Auction
During the week of 20th to 27th April, Broad Money M3 rose by a weekly LBP 75B ($49.8M) to reach LBP 203,060B ($134.7B). Moreover, M3 recorded a 7.72% annual increase and a 2.02% rise since the start of the year.
M1 expanded by LBP 201B ($133.5M) over the same period to LBP 9,348B ($6.2B). The expansion is mainly attributed to an increase in demand deposits by LBP 224B ($148.6M), while currency in circulation decreased by LBP 23B ($15.3M).
Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) increased by LBP 126.3B ($83.8M) over the same period, as term and savings deposits denominated in local currency rose by LBP 10B during the week ($6.6M), while deposits denominated in foreign currencies went down by $90M.
Over the above mentioned period, the broad money dollarization rate slipped from 59.62% on April 20th to 59.53% on April 27th. According to the Central Bank, the overnight interbank rate remained stable at 3% between December 2016 and March 2017.
In the Treasury Bills auction held on April 27th, 2017, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 253B ($168.2M), through the issuance of bills maturing in 6 months (6M) and notes maturing in 3 years (3Y) and 7 years (7Y). The highest demand was achieved on the 3Y notes, which accounted for 49.72% of total subscriptions, while the 6M bills and 7Y notes accounted for the remaining shares of 10.65% and 39.63%, respectively. The discount rate on the 6M bills stood at 4.87%. Whereas the coupon rates on the 3Y and 7Y notes stood at 6.5% and 7.08%, respectively. Existing maturities exceeded new subscriptions by LBP 70B ($46M).
