The latest balance sheet published by the Banque Du Liban reportedly showed the value of the country’s gold reserves to have gone up by $1 billion, from $24.7 billion in mid-January to $25.7 billion on Jan. 31.

At just $15 billion by the end of 2019, according to the director of the research department at Byblos Bank Nassib Ghobril, this constitutes an increase of roughly 71 percent across the six-year timeframe.

This is likely to have a positive impact on Lebanon’s balance of payment (BOP). An amendment to its measurement method was made in Jan. 2024, with gold now included under the BDL’s foreign assets, a component of the BOP.

This jump, including its most recent one, is attributed to the increase in gold prices worldwide, which have been gradually rising, reaching an all-time high of $2,860.71 per ounce (around 31g) at 7:30 pm (Beirut Time) on Friday, according to Reuters. They had been trading at just below $2,640 at the beginning of January, and have increased by 5 percent since U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn into office on Jan. 20. In comparison, they had closed at $1,519 per ounce by the end of Dec. 2019, highlighting an increase of 88 percent across the last six years.

Amid concerns and global economic uncertainties, investors have been flocking to gold amid rising tensions from trade wars between the U.S. and China, who retaliated against Trump’s levy of an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports.

With 286 tons or 9.2 million troy ounces, Lebanon owns the second largest stock of gold in the region, with about 40 percent stores in the U.S. “We cannot just sit and watch the value of these gold reserves go up without having serious discussions about how we can benefit from it,” Ghobril said.

Revival of old debates: To sell or not to sell?

“The debate around the sales of Lebanon’s gold remains taboo,” said Jean Riachi, CEO of I&C Bank. But he believes that “gold should be liquidated, and the money used to repay depositors [whose funds remain illegally trapped in Lebanese banks].”

"For (the needs of) its monetary policy, a central bank requires net reserves equivalent to three to six months of imports, which in Lebanon's case amounts to a maximum of $10 billion. Yet, between gold and liquid assets, the BDL holds more than $35 billion in reserves,” he explained.

“The effect on the economy will likely be positive because the money that will reach the hands of Lebanese people will serve for consumption and investments amongst other things.”

The debate over the sales of BDL gold has been ongoing since the beginning of the 2019 economic crisis. Former Labor and Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas had previously told L’Orient-Le Jour in April 2024 that “it would be criminal to entrust the band of politicians who govern the country today with any resource and hope it would positively impact the national economy.” While he was not technically against selling it to help the national economy, he on the other hand expressed his opposition to selling the country’s “only wealth” for the benefit of the current political class.

“I'm not saying give it to the state to spend. Instead, I believe it should be used to repay depositors. People know what to do with their money better than politicians do,” maintained Riachi.

Ghobril, on the other hand, argues for an alternative that does not involve the sales of gold. “We could collateralize parts of the gold, let’s say 3 to 4 billion dollars in value, to get liquid cash and use those towards [preassessed] priorities, and projects.”

“But we have to be careful where this money goes, and it has to create value for the economy,” he stressed.