Two pairs of hands sifting through Lebanese lira notes on the left and U.S. dollar bills on the right. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
Since the summer of 2023, Banque du Liban (BDL) has managed to increase its foreign currency reserves by about $3.3 billion, bringing them to nearly $12 billion in recent days, according to its latest published statement.This progress is all the more remarkable as it comes at a time when BDL continues to draw on this cushion to finance 75 percent of depositors’ withdrawals under circulars 158 and 166, while also providing the State with the dollars necessary to pay part of public sector salaries.How did the central bank move, in less than two years, from a period of hemorrhaging reserves to one of accumulating several billion dollars?In the final months of former governor Riad Salameh’s term, which ended in July 2023, BDL had already reached a turning point: it stopped financing the state in foreign currency, and the era of subsidies and...
Since the summer of 2023, Banque du Liban (BDL) has managed to increase its foreign currency reserves by about $3.3 billion, bringing them to nearly $12 billion in recent days, according to its latest published statement.This progress is all the more remarkable as it comes at a time when BDL continues to draw on this cushion to finance 75 percent of depositors’ withdrawals under circulars 158 and 166, while also providing the State with the dollars necessary to pay part of public sector salaries.How did the central bank move, in less than two years, from a period of hemorrhaging reserves to one of accumulating several billion dollars?In the final months of former governor Riad Salameh’s term, which ended in July 2023, BDL had already reached a turning point: it stopped financing the state in foreign currency, and the era of subsidies...
