Ministry of Finance (MoF) Raises LBP 73B through its March 23rd Auction
During the week ending March 16th, Broad Money M3 increased by a weekly LBP 449B ($298M) to reach LBP 201,931B ($134B). Moreover, M3 recorded an 8.01% annual increase and a 1.45% rise since the start of the year.
M1 dropped by LBP 107B ($71M) over the same period to LBP 9,166B ($6.08B). The fall is mainly attributed to the respective decrease of LBP 135B ($90M) in currency in circulation which outweighed the LBP 28 ($19M) increase in demand deposits.
Total deposits (excluding demand deposits) rose by LBP 556B ($369M) during the week, as term and savings deposits denominated in local currency rose by LBP 86B ($57M) and deposits denominated in foreign currencies grew by $312M.
Over the above mentioned period, the broad money dollarization rate rose from 59.16% on March 9th to 59.26% on March 16th. According to the Central Bank, the overnight interbank rate remained stable at 3% between December 2016 and January 2017.
In the Treasury Bills auction held on March 23rd, 2017, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) raised LBP 73B ($48M), through the issuance of bills maturing in 3 months (6M) and 12M and notes maturing in 60M. The highest demand was achieved on the 12M notes and 60M bills, which each accounted for 36% of total subscriptions, while the 3M bills accounted for the remaining share of 28%. The discount rate on the 3M and 12M bills stood at 4.39% and 5.08%, respectively. Whereas the coupon rate on the 60M bills stood at 6.74%. Existing maturities exceeded new subscriptions by LBP 184B ($122M).
