According to statistics published by the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL), gross public debt narrowed by 0.74% ($761.53 million) during the month of October 2022 to LBP 153,680 billion ($101.94 billion), down from LBP 154,828 billion ($102.71 billion) a month earlier. The share of Lebanese banks of LBP-denominated debt fell to 17.6% (down from 18.2% as at end of September 2022), with that of the non-banking sector also dropping to around 19.3% (down from 19.5% in September) while Banque Du Liban’s share rose to around 63.1% (up from 62.3% in September). As far as foreign currency-denominated debt is concerned, sovereign debt in the form of Republic of Lebanon Eurobonds constituted 95.0% of total foreign currency debt, followed by lines of credit obtained through multilateral agreements (3.8%) and bilateral facilities (1.1%).

The average maturity of debt denominated in domestic currency narrowed to 3.63 years in October 2022 down from 3.65 years in September, while the weighted average annual interest rate on local currency debt increased to 6.41% in October, up from 6.40% a month earlier. 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.