Ministry of Finance (MoF) Raises LBP 293B through its February 23 Auction
During the week ending February 16, Broad Money M3 increased by a weekly LBP362B ($240M) to reach LBP 200,638B ($133B). Moreover, M3 recorded a 7.86% annual increase and a 0.80% rise since the start of the year.
M1 decreased by LBP 156B ($103M) over the same period to LBP 9,163B ($6.08B). The rise is mainly attributed to the decrease of LBP 163B ($108M) in money in circulation and the increase of LBP 7B ($5M) in demand deposits.
Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) rose by LBP 518B ($344M) during the week, as term and savings deposits denominated in local currency and deposits denominated in foreign currencies registered respective growths of LBP 85B ($56M) and $287M.
Over the above mentioned period, the broad money dollarization rate slightly rose from 59.06% to stand at 59.17% on February 17. According to the Central Bank, the overnight interbank rate remained stable at 3% between November and December 2016.
In the Treasury Bills auction held on February 23rd, 2017, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 293B ($194M), through the issuance of bills maturing in 3 months (3M) and 6M and notes maturing in 60M. The highest demand was achieved on the 60M notes, which held a 37.82% share of total subscriptions, while the 3M and 6M bills accounted for the remaining shares of 34.84% and 27.34%, respectively. The discount rate on the 3M and 6M bills stood at 4.39% and 5.08% respectively while the coupon rate on the 60M notes registered 6.74%. New subscriptions exceeded existing maturities by LBP 136B ($90M).
