The value of cleared checks declined illustrating a slowdown in the Lebanese economy and lower business spending. The value of clear checks fell by 8.33% during the first eight months of the year, as the number of checks cleared by Banque du Liban amounted to 8.24M worth $48.58B by August 2015, compared to a total of 8.58M checks valued at $52.99B registered a year earlier.
The decline in the total value of checks in foreign currencies put a large toll on the fall of total value of cleared checks, as the former decreased yearly by 11.87% to $36.17B compared to $41.04B by August 2014. In contrast, the value of checks denominated in Lebanese Pounds increased by 3.81% to reach $12.41B by August compared to a lower level of $11.95B last year. In turn, the dollarization rate of checks retreated from 77.44% to 74.46%. As for returned checks, they constituted 2.11% of total value of checks, up from the 1.87% recorded the previous year.
In the month of August alone, the value of cleared checks declined by 7.23% from August 2014 to reach $5.89B. The value of checks denominated in foreign currencies (representing 72.89% of the total) went down by 13.64% to $4.29B in August, while the value of checks in LBP also decreased by 1.80% to $1.60B, over the same period.
Value of Cleared Checks by August ($M)
Source: ABL