According to statistics published by the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL), gross public debt widened by 0.57% ($536.65 million) during the month of September 2020 to LBP 142,928 billion ($94.81 billion), up from LBP 142,119 billion ($94.27 billion) a month earlier. The share of Lebanese banks of LBP-denominated debt fell to 27.4% in September (down from 27.6% in August), with the share of Banque Du Liban increasing to 59.8% (up from 59.6% in August) and that of the non-banking sector remaining flat at 12.8%. As far as foreign currency-denominated debt is concerned, sovereign debt in the form of Republic of Lebanon Eurobonds constituted 94.2% of total foreign currency debt, followed by lines of credit obtained through multilateral agreements (4.0%) and bilateral facilities (1.7%).

The average maturity of debt denominated in domestic currency contracted to 4.60 years in September 2020, with the weighted average annual interest rate on local currency debt also dropping to 6.48%. As far as the weighted average annual interest rate and weighted maturity of foreign currency debt are concerned, the ABL no longer publishes these statistics as a result of the government’s decision to suspend the payment of Eurobonds in March 2020.