The Lebanese Central Bank’s balance sheet conveys some $66.07 million appreciation (0.46%) in BDL’s foreign assets portfolio during the second half of November 2023 to $14.28 billion (LBP 214.19 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 $9.06 billion as at end of November 2023, up from $9.00 billion a fortnight earlier. Similarly, the value of gold reserves at BDL increased by 3.29% ($598.99 million) in the second half of November to $18.80 billion (LBP 281.98 trillion) as gold prices increased amid a lower demand for the US dollar and expectations that the US Federal Reserve will no longer increase interest rates.

On an annual basis, BDL’s foreign assets came in 5.98% ($0.91 billion) lower than the $15.19 billion reading reported as at end November 2022. Conversely, the value of gold reserves settled 15.83% ($2.57 billion) higher when benchmarked to the $16.23 billion figure recorded in the same period in 2022.

In a related note, BDL’s balance sheet widened by 0.23% on a bi-weekly basis to LBP 1,602.56 trillion. This owes to the 3.29% rise in the value of gold reserves, coupled with the 1.86% increase in the value of other assets (representing capitalized open market operations and seigniorage) to LBP 112.64 trillion and the 0.46% rise in the value of foreign assets, altogether outweighing the 1.21% contraction in the valuation adjustment account to LBP 644.77 trillion, the 0.43% drop in the value of the securities portfolio to LBP 64.91 trillion and the 1.64% decrease in loans to the local financial sector to LBP 16.28 trillion.

The share of BDL’s foreign assets of the latter’s total balance sheet stood at 13.37% as at end of November 2023 while that of gold reserves, valuation adjustment, and loans to the public sector reached 17.60%, 40.23%, and 15.55% respectively.