he Lebanese Central Bank’s balance sheet conveys some $965.50 million expansion in its foreign assets portfolio during the second half of November 2019 to $38.10 billion, up from $37.13 billion a fortnight ago as a result of BDL’s subscription in the newly issued Eurobonds for a total amount of $3 billion in replacement of maturing Eurobonds having a face value of $1.5 billion. Consequently, BDL’s portfolio of Lebanese Eurobonds rose to $5.7 billion as per the disclosure made by the Central Bank, implying a drop in foreign currency reserves to $32.40 billion by end of November from $33.63 billion in mid-November. From another standpoint, the value of gold reserves at BDL contracted by 0.51% ($68.43 million) in the second half of November to $13.43 billion as gold prices dropped on the back of better than expected U.S. economic data which further diminished the chances of any potential rate cut.

On an annual basis, BDL’s foreign assets came in 6.80% ($2.78 billion) lower than the $40.88 billion reading reported as at end of November 2018. Conversely, the value of gold reserves soared by 19.09% ($2.15 billion) when benchmarked to the $11.28 billion figure recorded in the same period last year. It is worth noting that BDL’s total reserves (foreign currency and gold) cover some 110 months of debt service and constitute around 52.81% and 58.68% of Lebanon’s gross and net public debt on a respective basis.

In a related note, BDL’s balance sheet widened by $2.17 billion during the second half of November to $139.78 billion owing to some 1.56% expansion in the value of other assets to $37.17 billion, coupled with 2.60% increase in the value of foreign assets to $38.10 billion  and a 2.05% increase in the value of the securities portfolio to $35.85 billion, which altogether outweighed the 0.51% decrease in the value of gold reserves to $13.43 billion and the 0.12% decline in loans to the local financial sector to $14.96 billion.

The share of BDL’s foreign assets of the latter’s total assets increased to 27.26% by end of November 2019, compared to 26.98% by mid-November, with that of gold reserves dropping to 9.61% from 9.81% two weeks earlier.