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  • Lebanon Opportunities

    MATTERS OF FACT

    Apr 08, 2019 5 minutes

    PUBLIC DEBT UP WITH HIGHER DEFICITS

    ross public debt increased seven percent year-on-year to $85.1 billion at the end of 2018, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF). Net total debt rose ten percent to $75.7 billion over the same period. Net total debt is calculated by subtracting from the gross debt, public sector deposits with the Central Bank (BDL) and commercial banks. “Wider fiscal deficits in the context of weak economic activity and high interest rates have led to rapid accumulation of public debt, which increased to 152 percent of GDP in 2018,” the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said in ‘Lebanon: Time to Act’, a report released in February. The gross local currency debt, which includes public sector deposits, stood at $51.6 billion at the end of 2018. Half of this debt was held by BDL while the share of commercial banks was 35 percent, according to MoF’s ‘Debt and Debt Markets’ report for

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