According to the Association of Lebanese Banks (ABL), the value of cleared checks reached $22.13B by April 2018, down by 1.39% compared to the same period last year. Likewise, the total number of cleared checks fell by 0.8% year-on-year to reach 3.93 million by April 2018.
The number and value of cleared checks in foreign currencies declined by 4.22% and 3.29% to reach 2.42 million and $14.9B respectively by April 2018.
On the other hand, the number and value of cleared checks in Lebanese Pounds increased by 5.21% and 2.78% year-on-year to reach 1,51 million and $7.23B, respectively.
The share of cleared checks denominated in foreign currencies in the total number of cleared checks declined from 63.75% by April 2017 to 61.56% by April 2018.
As for the number of returned checks it totaled 85,759 by April 2018, up from 73,217 by April 2017. Accordingly, the share of returned checks in the total number of cleared checks rose from 1.85% by April 2017 to 2.18% by April 2018.
Meanwhile, the value of cleared checks reached $5.3B in April 2018, down by 8% compared to March 2018. Similarly, the total number of cleared checks fell by 9% to reach 958,219 in April 2018.
Value of Cleared Checks by April (in $Millions)
Source: ABL