Lebanon’s Central Bank Assets totaled $77.3 Billion by February 2013, 6% more than the $73.1 billion registered in the same period of 2012. On a monthly basis, total assets registered a 0.80% decrease going from $77.9 Billion in January 2013 to $77.3 Billion in February 2013. In addition, BDL’s foreign assets recorded a 0.37% m.o.m decrease from $35.99 billion in January 2013 to $35.86 billion in February.
Gold reserves declined as well, by 5.03% monthly, thus following the same trend as gold prices. The Securities portfolio’s value amounted to $11.33 Billion in February 2013, 0.61% less than January’s level of $11.26 Billion. Loans to the public sector showed a monthly increase of 0.39% from $28.71 Million in Jan 2013 to $28.82 Million in Feb 2013.
On the other hand, loans to the financial sector decreased by 0.43% m-o-m going from $1.62 Billion in January to $1.61 Billion in February. In terms of liabilities, currency in circulation outside BDL decreased by 8% since year start to reach $2.2 Billion in February 2013. Public sector deposits also declined, going from $5.94 Billion in January 2013 to $5.63 Billion in February 2013. Meanwhile, financial sector deposits went up by a monthly 1.22% from $55.34 Billion to $56.02 Billion in February 2013.
The Lebanon Brief
10 March
