According to the Association of Lebanese Banks (ABL), the value of cleared checks reached $16.82B in the first quarter of 2018 (Q1 2018), down by 1.63% compared to the same period last year. Similarly, the total number of cleared checks fell by 1.10% year-on-year to reach 2.97 million in Q1 2018. The decline came about as the number and value of cleared checks denominated in foreign currencies declined over the period.
In fact, the number and value of cleared checks in foreign currencies declined by 4.46% and 3.59% to reach 1.84 million and $11.30B respectively in Q1 2018.
Meanwhile, the number and value of cleared checks in Lebanese Pounds increased by 4.83% and 2.62% year-on-year to reach 1.14 million and $5.53B, respectively.
The share of cleared checks denominated in foreign currencies in the total number of cleared checks declined from 63.90% in Q1 2017 to 61.73% in Q1 2018.
As for returned checks they totaled 63,919 in Q1 2018, up from 54,897 in Q1 2017. Accordingly, the share of returned checks in the total number of cleared checks rose from 1.83% in Q1 2017 to 2.15% in Q1 2018.
Source: ABL