Total assets of Lebanon’s Central Bank reached $77.9 billion by January 2013, up by 1.5% since year start and 8.4% since past January.
BdL’s foreign assets expanded 11.9% yoy to $36 billion, excluding the Gold reserves that decreased by 3.6% yoy with the drop in Gold prices from $1,688/ounce in Jan 2012 to $1,675/ounce in Jan 2013. BdL’s Securities portfolio shrunk by 3.6% to reach $11.3 billion compared to $11.7 billion in January 2012, while loans to the financial sector achieved a growth of 15% rising from $1.4 billion up till Jan 31, 2012 to $1.6 billion by Jan 31, 2013. Meanwhile loans to the public sector were reduced significantly from $84.3 million to $28.7 million during the same cited period.
On the liabilities side, the financial sector deposits grew 10.7% to $55.3 billion up from $50 billion, while currency outside BdL increased by 8.5% to $2.2 billion.
Public sector deposits also grew by 15.7% to $5.9 billion.
The Lebanon Brief – Blom Bank
11 February
