The Lebanese Central Bank’s balance sheet conveys some $270.58 million contraction in its foreign assets portfolio during the first half of August 2021 to $19.79 billion, down from $20.06 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 $14.76 billion by mid-August. In addition, the value of gold reserves at BDL dropped by 4.00% ($674.06 million) in the first half of August to $16.20 billion with gold prices tumbling as US indicators are depicting a strengthening job market.

On an annual basis, BDL’s foreign assets came in 33.98% ($10.18 billion) lower than the $29.97 billion reading reported at mid-August 2020. Moreover, the value of gold reserves dropped by 9.85% ($1.77 billion) when benchmarked to the $17.97 billion figure recorded in the same period last year. It is worth noting that BDL’s total reserves (foreign currency and gold) cover some 180 months of debt service and constitute around 31.66% and 35.62% of Lebanon’s gross and net public debt on a respective basis.

In a related note, BDL’s balance sheet decreased by $0.49 billion during the first half of August to $158.37 billion on the back of the 1.35% contraction in the value of foreign assets to $19.79 billion coupled with the 4.00% drop in the value of gold reserves to $16.20 billion which both outweighed the 0.61% ($0.41 billion) rise in the value of other assets (representing capitalized open market operations and seigniorage) to $67.57 billion and the 0.18% appreciation in the value of the securities portfolio to $40.64 billion.

The share of BDL’s foreign assets of the latter’s total assets fell to 12.50% by mid-August 2021, compared to 12.63% by end of July, with the share of gold reserves also contracting to 10.23% from 10.62% two weeks earlier. The share of other assets continued its upturn reaching 42.67% of BDL’s total balance sheet as at mid-August 2021.