The Central Bank of Liberia is reporting a loss of $28.2 million United States dollars in annual revenue for 2022 mainly on account of poor yields on treasury bills and market interest.
Preliminary un-audited Income Statement revealed operating income of L$3.7 billion compared with L$8.3 billion in 2021. This represents 55.0 percent decrease in gross revenue, the Bank disclosed in a report to lawmakers.
“Decrease in gross income in 2022 was mainly due to the decrease in other income, and interest expense relating to CBL bills.
“Main revenue drivers were net interest income of L$2.7 billion. Total expenditure amounted to L$5.1 billion compared with L$4.2 billion in 2021 excluding impairment release/loss. This increase is attributed to the depreciation of the Liberia dollar on December 31, 2022.”
The Central Bank held $274.0 billion worth of Liberian dollar in assets at the end of 2022 compared with L$257 billion in 2021.
This 8.0 percent growth was mainly due to increased deposits with the IMF, the Bank said.
“Excluding the IMF, approximately 33.0 percent of total assets are represented by claims on the Government of Liberia. The loan has been performing based on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between GoL and CBL in 2019.”
($1 = 163 Liberian dollar)
– Festus Poquie
