Lebanon’s gross public debt grew 7.3% y/y to LBP 89.22tn (USD 59.2bn) at end-May 2013, virtually the same as the month before, data from the Association of Lebanese Banks showed.
LBP-denominated debt accounted for 56% of the total at LBP 50.11tn and the remaining balance was in foreign currencies. FX-denominated debt increased 22.4% y/y (down 0.5% m/m) at end-May to LBP 39.1tn lifted by the government’s USD 1.1bn USD-denominated Eurobond issue in April.
The FX debt total comprised 90.2% worth of Eurobonds and nearly 5% of multilateral agreements.
The net public debt, which excludes the public sector deposits at the commercial banks and central bank, rose 7.4% y/y to LBP 76.4tn at end-May. Lebanese banks held 49.9% (down from 50.6% in April) of the LBP-denominated debt and the central bank had a 32.3% share. Non-banking sector held 18.0% of the local debt over the period.
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