The Lebanese Central Bank issued on August 31, 2023 a new announcement addressed to banks and financial institutions concerning BDL’s liquid FX reserves. According to the announcement, BDL’s foreign liquidity excluding Eurobonds and gold amounted to $8,542 million as at mid-August 2023, down from $8,573 million 2 weeks earlier. The announcement noted that the drop in foreign liquid assets may be attributed to the devaluation of the Euro against the US Dollar during the concerned period, not to mention the settlement of interest payments due on Arab deposits and BDL’s share of basic circular 158. The market value of the ROL Eurobonds portfolio held by BDL rose to $421.8 million as at mid-August 2023 from $387 million as at end of July 2023 according to Bloomberg platform’s pricing. On the opposite end, the Central Bank’s foreign liabilities rose to $1,301 million as at mid-August 2023 up from $1,270 million as at end of July.

In addition, the announcement noted that Dr. Mansouri, BDL’s interim Governor, reiterated BDL’s commitment not to use the required reserves on customer deposits placed by banks at the BDL except for the settlement of the aforementioned liabilities and BDL’s share of the payments corresponding to basic circular 158. In a related note, BDL issued another announcement in which it stated that the Central Bank will start publishing a concise balance sheet every 15 days in the official gazette starting mid-August with all the necessary clarifications and explanations to facilitate to the public the interpretation of the results until the currently adopted accounting norms are changed to comply with international standards.