Lebanon's Central Bank reveals $7.3 Billion in remaining foreign currency assets

Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon's Central Bank, disclosed on Thursday that its residual foreign currency assets are valued at $7.3 billion. This figure stands in stark contrast to June 2020 when the bank stated it had assets worth $33 billion in foreign currencies.

The $7.3 billion figure comes from an overall $8.57 billion in foreign currency assets (with defaulted eurobonds excluded), offset by $1.27 billion of commitments against those assets. Historically, specifics concerning these commitments and the eurobonds' details were absent from BDL's regular bi-monthly "balance sheet."

Wassim Mansouri, the acting Governor of the BDL, provided a detailed breakdown. "As of July 31, 2023, the BDL possesses external liquidity that sums up to 8.573 billion US dollars. This is in addition to a Eurobonds portfolio with a market value of 387 million US dollars," Mansouri elucidated. It's important to note that this calculation doesn't factor in the bank's gold reserves.

Regarding the bank's external obligations, Mansouri commented, "These external funds are countered by obligations amounting to 1.27 billion US dollars, expected to be settled using the mentioned external liquidity."