The Lebanese Central Bank issued on November 17, 2023 intermediate decision 13593 under intermediate circular 683 directed to banks and financial institutions concerning their foreign currency positions, amending thereby basic decision 6568. In details, the circular stated that the Special Long FX Position (defined as the acceptable hedge in US Dollars of core capital elements that are qualified to be USD denominated according to international standards) must be included in the list of elements that are to be deducted from the FX Open Position in order to attain the FX Trading Position. The circular also reduced the special reserves that must be deposited at BDL against the overrun in the net operational foreign currency position (set at 1% of the bank’s core capital) and in the overall foreign currency position (set at 40% of the bank’s core capital) to three times the amount of the overrun down from ten times in circular 675. The circular then suspended the aforementioned provisions, stating that banks that have a long FX open position in excess of 1% of their core capital must liquidate said breach by end of 2024, while those having a short FX open position, must reduce the overrun by at least 50% by end of 2024 before fully eliminating it by end of 2025.  Always in the same vein, the circular added that banks that do not succeed in liquidating the above-stated breaches, must deposit an LBP-denominated special reserve (calculated at the exchange rate of BDL operations with banks) at BDL amounting to three times the overrun. In this regard, the circular noted that banks which are unable to liquidate their foreign currency positions within the specified time frame can consult BDL’s Central Council before the end of the given deadline. Finally, the circular stated that banks with long overrun levels may submit a request to BDL that justifies obtaining an additional long FX position.