The Lebanese Central Bank issued on August 24, 2023 an announcement pertaining to Gold Holdings stored in BDL’s vault. In details, ALS Inspection UK Ltd, a UK based subsidiary that inspects and analyses services for metals, precious metals and other items, was approached in 2022 by KPMG in association with the IMF to verify the existence and quality of BDL’s monetary gold holdings stored in BDL’s vault. According to the Global Precious Metals Manager for ALS Inspection UK Ltd Mr. David Pownall, the firm’s objective was to verify and record BDL’s inventory of gold holdings by creating a digital catalogue of the inventory that would be transparent and would make any future audit easy and efficient. The audit confirmed that the amount of gold documented by the Central Bank in troy ounce actually represented its’ declared official gold holdings, comprising more than 13,000 bars and 600,000 coins. In addition, Mr. Pownall noted that the majority of gold bars and coins at BDL can be considered as rare and are no longer produced by international gold refiners. Finally, ALS Inspection commented that it will return each year to conduct check audits.