The Lebanese Central Bank’s balance sheet conveys some $512.35 million contraction in its foreign assets portfolio during the second half of March 2020 to $35.23 billion, down from $35.75 billion a fortnight earlier. When factoring out BDL’s portfolio of Lebanese Eurobonds amounting to $5.03 billion as per the disclosure made by the Central Bank, the latter’s foreign currency reserves would settle at $30.20 billion by end of March. From another standpoint, the value of gold reserves at BDL increased by 1.53% ($223.55 million) in the second half of March to $14.82 billion as gold prices recorded their largest weekly gain since late 2008 propelled by the multiple stimulus programs launched worldwide in an attempt to alleviate the negative economic repercussions of the Coronavirus.

On an annual basis, BDL’s foreign assets came in 8.63% ($3.33 billion) lower than the $38.56 billion reading reported at end of March 2019. Conversely, the value of gold reserves soared by 24.48% ($2.91 billion) when benchmarked to the $11.91 billion figure recorded in the same period last year. It is worth noting that BDL’s total reserves (foreign currency and gold) cover some 97 months of debt service and constitute around 48.60% and 54.69% of Lebanon’s gross and net public debt on a respective basis.

In a related note, BDL’s balance sheet widened by $1.62 billion during the second half of March to $146.28 billion owing to some 4.50% ($1.84 billion) expansion in the value of other assets to $42.79 billion coupled with a 0.17% appreciation in the value of the securities portfolio to $38.35 billion and a 1.53% increase in the value of gold reserves to $14.82 billion added a 0.03% rise in the value of loans to the local financial sector to $14.82 billion which altogether outweighed the 1.43% drop in foreign assets to $35.23 billion.

The share of BDL’s foreign assets of the latter’s total assets dropped to 24.09% by end of March 2020, compared to 24.71% in mid-March, while that of gold reserves increased to 10.13% from 10.09% two weeks earlier.