The Lebanese Central Bank’s balance sheet conveys some $153.62 million appreciation (1.10%) in BDL’s foreign assets portfolio during the second half of October 2023 to $14.14 billion (LBP 212.17 trillion), noting that this figure includes the face value of the ROL Eurobonds portfolio held by BDL amounting to circa $5.21 billion. The liquid foreign reserve assets of the Central Bank stood at $8.93 billion as at end of October 2023, up from $8.78 billion a fortnight earlier. Similarly, the value of gold reserves at BDL increased by 6.04% ($1.05 billion) in the second half of October to $18.42 billion (LBP 276.35 trillion) as gold prices rose amid the heightened global uncertainty due to the escalating conflicts in the Middle East.

On an annual basis, BDL’s foreign assets came in 7.42% ($1.13 billion) lower than the $15.28 billion reading reported as at end of October 2022. Conversely, the value of gold reserves settled 21.68% ($3.28 billion) higher when benchmarked to the $15.14 billion figure recorded in the same period in 2022.

In a related note, BDL’s balance sheet widened by 0.71% on a bi-weekly basis to LBP 1,594.16 trillion. This owes to the 6.04% increase in the value of gold reserves, coupled with the 1.10% rise in the value of foreign assets and the 1.78% increase in the value of other assets (representing capitalized open market operations and seigniorage) to LBP 109.16 trillion, altogether outweighing the 1.28% contraction in the valuation adjustment account to LBP 646.47 trillion, the 1.39% drop in loans to the local financial sector to LBP 16.61 trillion and the 0.08% decrease in the value of the securities portfolio to LBP 65.55 trillion.

The share of BDL’s foreign assets of the latter’s total balance sheet stood at 13.31% as at end of October 2023 while that of gold reserves, valuation adjustment, and loans to the public sector reached 17.34%, 40.55%, and 15.64% respectively.