Lebanon’s Commercial Banks Assets Surged to $169.74B by July

The consolidated balance sheet of commercial banks revealed a 2.98% year-to-date (y-t-d) growth in total assets to $169.74B by July, and a gain of 7.56% year-on-year. Reserves, grasping a share of 35.00% of total assets, swelled by 8.53% since the beginning of the year, to reach $59.42B. Claims on resident private sector followed, (with a share of 25.82% of the total) increasing by 5.61% since year start, to $43.83B. The dollarization rate of private sector loans went from 76.54% in December, down to 75.92% by July 2014. During this period, foreign currency loans grew by 3.37% to $37.49B, while loans in the local currency rose at a faster pace of 6.97% to $11.89B. Moreover, commercial banks’ holdings of government securities inched up by 0.12%, to settle at $37.71B. Eurobonds holdings declined by 4.27% to $16.86B, while treasury bills in local currency increased by 3.92% to $20.76B. On the Liabilities side, resident private sector deposits edged up by 4.06% y-t-d to $112.10B. In fact, deposits denominated in Lebanese pounds augmented by 3.70% to $44.35B, less than the 4.30% increase in resident foreign currency deposits to $67.75B. Similarly, non-resident private sector deposits added 2.57% y-t-d to reach $29.21B by July, where deposits in Lebanese Pounds grew by 6.86% to $3.59B, more than the 1.99% rise in foreign currency deposits to $25.62B. Hence the dollarization rate of private sector deposits went from 66.13% end of December 2013, down to 66.08% by July 2014.   Commercial Banks’ Assets by July ($B) Lebanon’s Commercial Banks Assets Surged to $169.74B by July Source: Banque du Liban

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