According to the Association of Lebanese banks, the value of cleared checks decreased by 7.69% from $65.61B by October 2014 to $60.57B by October 2015. Over the same period, the number of cleared checks dropped from 10.81M to 10.39M. This drop is partly linked to an overall subdued economic environment and to a shift in payment methods, whereby payment cards and electronic transfers are gaining popularity.
The value of cleared checks denominated in foreign currency dropped by a yearly 11.36% to $44.87B by October 2015 and their number also fell by a yearly 6.54% to 6.98M. However, the value and the number of cleared checks in local currency grew by a yearly 4.68% and 2.29% to $15.69B and 3.41M, respectively.
As for returned checks, they constituted 2.13% of total value of checks by October this year, down from the 1.95% recorded the previous year.
The dollarization of cleared checks fell from 69.13% up to October 2014 to 67.17% up to October 2015.
Value of Cleared Checks by October (in $M)
Source: ABL