Banque du Liban (BdL) issued Intermediate Circular 515 on January 30, 2019 that amends Basic Circular 23 issued on March 7, 1996 about the facilities that BdL can provide to commercial banks and financial institutions. The circular details BdL's stimulus package for 2019 that subsidizes interest rates on loans to several sectors. The new economic stimulus package represents BdL's eighth consecutive package since 2013.

The circular stipulates that BdL will provide interest rate subsidies on LBP790bn in housing loans, on LBP45bn in loans to higher education, on LBP25bn in micro credits, and on LBP5bn in loans through the Kafalat Corporation. Also, BdL will subsidize a total of $500m to finance mortgages for Lebanese expatriates, as well as environmentally-friendly projects, research & development projects, and the knowledge economy, among other sectors. 

The circular indicated that LBP300bn in new mortgages will benefit from the subsidies. According to the circular, commercial banks that plan to extend subsidized mortgages have to exchange US dollars for Lebanese pounds from BdL and place them in a special account at BdL in order to utilize them to extend such loans. It stipulated that BdL will exclude housing loans under this mechanism from the calculation of the 25% ceiling that it previously imposed on the banks' loans-to-deposits ratio in Lebanese pounds. The circular added that the remaining LBP490bn in housing loans constitute the amount of loans that commercial banks extended and subsidized from their own funds in 2018, as per the agreement between BdL and commercial banks. At the time, BdL indicated that it will cover the interest subsidies starting from 2019, while banks will bear the cost of the subsidies in 2018. 

Under the current stimulus package, lending rates across most loan categories will increase compared to the previous packages. Specifically, the interest rate on the incentive housing loan increased from 4.75% to at least 5.94%, while the rate on housing loans approved by the Public Corporation for Housing rose from 3.78% to at least 5.5%. Also, the subsidized interest rate on housing loans under different protocols signed between banks and public institutions increased from 2.628% to at least 5.5% currently, while the interest rates on mortgages extended by Banque de l'Habitat was unchanged at 3.75%. Further, the circular indicated that an increase in the cost of funds would not lead to a rise in the subsidies provided by BdL, which means that loan beneficiaries will bear the difference. In contrast, a decrease in the cost of fund would lead to a drop in BdL subsidies, which means that the interest rate on the loan would not change.