Public debt rose further, reaching $ 96.8 billion at the end of February at the official rate of LL / USD 1507, up $ 1.2 billion since the start of the year.

Public debt denominated in Lebanese pounds reached $ 60.4 billion and that in foreign currencies $ 36.5 billion, up despite the announcement of a default state in March 2020.

Local debt represents 62.4% of total debt and external debt 37.6%.

43.6% of public debt is held by Banque du Liban, 25.7% by local commercial banks and 8.1% by local investors. 20.6% of public debt is held by foreign investors and 2.1% by foreign countries.

61.6% of public debt in local currency is held by the Banque du Liban against 58.3% a year earlier. The exposure of commercial banks is 25.5%

As for the net public debt, it is also on the rise, reaching 86.7 billion dollars. Net public debt, excluding sums due to the Banque du Liban or other public institutions representing 54% of local public debt.

This information comes at a time when the restructuring of the large public debt is still not the order of the day.

One of the highlights regarding public debt concerns the exposure of private banks. Thus, if the rate of dollarization of rates is very high, of the order of 83% of the total amount, Lebanese banks are exposed both to local public debt in Lebanese pound generally but also to the fact that they have transferred a very much of their clients’ dollars at Banque du Liban. The Central Bank has seen its monetary reserves collapse for a year while pursuing a policy of supporting the purchase of basic necessities for 25 years.

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