The Lebanese financial sector’s net foreign assets widened by $1,271.1 million in August 2024 in comparison with an increase of $1,131.5 million in July, a drop of $536.0 million in June, increases of $471.0 million in May, $1,160.7 million in April, $1,629.9 million in March, $89.6 million in February, and a decrease of $111.0 million in January. The aforementioned figures have been revisited by the Central Bank according to a new BDL disclosure in which it attributes the revision in the figures to the IMF’s recommendation to comply with international standards. More specifically, BDL included under foreign assets monetary gold, non-resident foreign securities, and foreign currencies & deposits with correspondent banks & international organizations while concurrently excluding the Lebanese government’s sovereign bonds and BDL loans in FX to resident banks & financial institutions. The sizeable increase in the change in BDL’s net foreign assets can be mainly explained by the rise in the value of monetary gold over the studied period. August’s figure can be attributed to some $1,216.7 million increase in the net foreign assets of the Central Bank, coupled with a $54.4 million rise in the net foreign assets of banks & financial institutions. Similarly, on a cumulative basis, the financial sector’s net foreign assets soared by $5,106.8 million during the first eight months of the year 2024 in comparison with an increase of $1,071.1 million in the same period in 2023. This increase owes to a $5,325.6 million expansion in the net foreign assets of the Central Bank, which outweighed the $218.9 million drop in the net foreign assets of banks & financial institutions.