The Lebanese Central Bank’s balance sheet conveys some $350.32 million contraction in its foreign assets portfolio during the first half of March 2022 to $16.58 billion, down from $16.93 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 $11.55 billion by Mid-March. On the other hand, the value of gold reserves at BDL soared by 1.42% ($249.00 million) in the first half of March to $17.80 billion as gold prices increased amid demand for safe haven assets following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On an annual basis, BDL’s foreign assets came in 26.42% ($5.96 billion) lower than the $22.54 billion reading reported as at mid-March 2021. On the other hand, the value of gold reserves came in 11.62% ($1.85 billion) higher when benchmarked to the $15.94 billion figure recorded in the same period in 2021. It is worth noting that BDL’s total reserves (foreign currency and gold) cover some 188 months of debt service and constitute around 29.23% and 33.49% of Lebanon’s gross and net public debt on a respective basis.

In a related note, BDL’s balance sheet narrowed by $1.07 billion during the first half of March 2022 to $161.93 billion on the back of the 1.39% ($1.01 billion) contraction in the value of other assets (representing capitalized open market operations and seigniorage) to $72.08 billion and the 2.07% drop in the value of foreign assets to $16.58 billion, which altogether outweighed the 1.42% rise in the value of gold reserves to $17.80 billion and the 0.19% increase in the value of securities portfolio to $41.66 billion.

The share of BDL’s foreign assets of the latter’s total assets decreased to 10.24% as at mid-March 2022, compared to 10.39% as at end of February, while the share of gold reserves rose to 10.99% from 10.77% two weeks earlier. The share of other assets reached 44.52% of BDL’s total balance sheet by mid-March 2022, down from 44.85% as at end of February.