According to the Association of Lebanese Banks (ABL), the total number and value of cleared checks increased by 0.65% and 2.06% year-on-year (y-o-y) to stand at 8.22 million (M) and $45.79 billion (B), respectively, by August 2017.
In details, the volume and value of cleared checks denominated in Lebanese Pounds (LBP) grew by 7.8% and 10.59% y-o-y, amounting to 3.02M and $14.19B, respectively, over the same period. Meanwhile, the number and value of foreign currency-denominated checks declined by 3.10% and 1.36% yearly, to 5.19M and $31.6B, respectively, by Aug. 2017.
As such, the dollarization rate of cleared checks slipped in volume and value from 65.67% and 71.39% by Aug. 2016 to 63.22% and 69.00%, respectively, by August this year.
It is worthy to note that the number of returned checks incrementally rose by 1.16% y-o-y to 153,220 checks, whereas the total value of returned checks contracted by 13.07% to settle at $964M over the period.
In the month of August 2017 alone, each of the total number and value of cleared checks rose by a yearly 0.5% to reach 1.07M checks and $5.97B, respectively. In details, the volume and value of LBP-checks cleared in August rose by 6.97% and 15.64% to reach 398,471 and $1.87B, respectively; whereas the volume and value of foreign currency checks decreased by 2.99% and 2.50% to 672,250 and $4.1B, respectively.
Value of Cleared Checks by Aug. (in $M)
Source: Association of Banks in Lebanon