The Proposed Denominations
Banque du Liban is reported to be studying the introduction of four new lira banknotes in denominations of 500,000 LBP, 1 million LBP, 2 million LBP, and 5 million LBP, according to a report carried by Annahar and relayed by BLOMINVEST Bank's research blog on May 21. The largest proposed note would be 50 times the current 100,000 LBP ceiling.
At the prevailing market rate of 89,700 LBP per US dollar, the 5 million note would settle near $55. The smallest of the four, the 500,000 note, would be worth roughly $5.50.
How Shreif Framed the Move
Dr. Ali Shreif, the Head of BDL's Monetary Operations Unit, presented the plan as a logistics and storage fix rather than a monetary expansion. The reasoning, as reported: counting, transporting, and warehousing physical cash in 100,000 LBP units has become operationally heavy after years of devaluation, and higher denominations cut the volume of bills banks and merchants have to handle.
That distinction is not academic. Introducing higher denominations does not by itself add liras to circulation. It changes how easily large cash transactions can be settled, especially in an economy that has been forced back into cash by a frozen banking sector.
Why the Optics Cut Differently in Lebanon
Past episodes of new high-denomination banknotes in stressed currencies, from Venezuela to Zimbabwe, were read by savers as a signal that the currency floor was moving, even when officials insisted the change was purely technical. Lebanese depositors and traders, who lived through a near-total wipeout of their lira savings after 2019, are likely to apply the same skepticism.
The 89,700 LBP per US dollar rate has held stable for over a year, anchored by tight BDL liquidity policy and the absence of normal banking. New high-denomination notes test that stability not through the supply of money, but through the psychology of holding it.
What Has Not Been Confirmed
BDL has not published a printing timeline, a tender, or any design specifications for the proposed notes. The reported plan does not specify which printer would produce the notes or which security features they would carry. The proposal was described as under study, and the story is still developing.
