The Lebanese Central Bank’s balance sheet conveys some $26.19 million (0.17%) contraction in BDL’s foreign assets portfolio during the second half of July 2024 to $15.45 billion (LBP 1,382.52 trillion). The liquid foreign reserve assets of the Central Bank, when factoring out the face value of the ROL Eurobonds portfolio held by BDL amounting to circa $5.21 billion, stood at $10.26 billion as at end of July 2024, down from $10.28 billion a fortnight earlier. Conversely, the value of gold reserves at BDL increased by 0.44% ($97.94 million) in the second half of July to $22.31 billion (LBP 1,996.93 trillion) as gold prices rose amid the conflicts in the Middle East.

On an annual basis, BDL’s foreign assets came in 12.03% ($1.66 billion) higher than the $13.79 billion reading reported at end of July 2023. Similarly, the value of gold reserves settled 23.70% ($4.28 billion) higher when benchmarked to the $18.04 billion figure recorded in the same period in 2023.

In a related note, BDL’s balance sheet narrowed by 0.01% on a bi-weekly basis to LBP 8,441.11 trillion as at end of July 2024. This owes to the 0.28% decrease in the valuation adjustment account to LBP 3,265.35 trillion, coupled with the 0.17% drop in the value of foreign assets and the 11.14% decrease in loans to the local financial sector to LBP 12.45 trillion, altogether outweighing the 0.44% increase in the value of gold reserves, the 1.92% rise in the deferred open-market operations (which includes deferred interest costs stemming from open-market operations) account to LBP 154.19 trillion and the 3.28% increase in the value of other assets to LBP 14.52 trillion.

The share of BDL’s foreign assets and gold reserves stood at 16.38% and 23.66% respectively of the latter’s total balance sheet as at end of July 2024, compared to 16.40% and 23.55% two weeks earlier.