Lebanon’s Commercial Banks’ Assets Ticked up by 0.9% (Y-t-D) in Q1 2016

The consolidated balance sheet of Lebanon’s commercial banks revealed a 0.90% progress in assets from December 2015’s level of $185.99B to $187.66B in the first quarter of 2016, reflecting a 6.05% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth.

In details, total reserves amounted to $72.39B revealing a 1.97% year-to-date (y-t-d) increase over the same period. Loans to the private sector summed up to $55.05B by March 2016, of which around 88% were provided to resident borrowers. Resident private loans denominated in foreign currencies (FC) ticked up by 0.93% from December 2015 to $34.72B in Q1 2016. In turn, the dollarization rate of private sector loans slipped from 74.82% in December 2015 to 74.81% in March 2016. Furthermore, claims on the public sector posted an increase of 0.98% on a y-t-d basis to $38.17B in the first quarter of 2016, mainly due to the increase in the banks’ subscription to Eurobonds.

Looking at the liabilities of commercial banks, resident private sector deposits inched up 0.78% between December 2015 and March this year to register $120.66B. Meanwhile, non-resident private sector deposits went down over the same period by 0.23% to $31.79B. In the first quarter of 2016, local currency deposits experienced a 0.74% (y-t-d) improvement to $53.64B (resident and non-resident). Moreover, the dollarization rate of total private sector deposits slightly dipped from 64.88% in December 2015 to 64.81% by the end of the first quarter this year.

Total Commercial Banks’ Assets in Q1 (in $M)

Lebanon’s Commercial Banks’ Assets Ticked up by 0.9% (Y-t-D) in Q1 2016

Source: BdL

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *