According to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet, total assets decreased by 6.97%, year-to-date (y-t-d), and stood at $174.94B in December 2021, according to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet.
In details, resident customers’ deposits (which grasp 59.12% of total liabilities) decreased since December 2020 by 6.18% to $103.42B in December 2021, with deposits in LBP down ticked by 2.03% to $23.94B while the deposits in foreign currencies declined by 7.37% to stand at $79.48B.
As for Non-resident customers’ deposits grasping 14.03% of total liabilities, they recorded a drop of 10.28% and stood at $24.54B over the same period. In details, the deposits in LBP retreated by 9.73% to reach $2.04B while deposits in foreign currencies declined by 10.33% and totaled $22.50B in December 2021. More importantly, the dollarization ratio for private sector deposits decreased from 79.96% in November 2021 to 79.42% in December 2021. In addition, Non-resident financial sector Liabilities held 2.78% of total Liabilities and dwindled by 26.00% to reach $4.87B y-t-d.
On the assets side, Reserves, constituting 63.89% of total assets, recorded a y-t-d downtick of 0.21% to settle at $111.78B in December 2021. Deposits with the central bank (BDL), grasping 97.49% of total reserves, witnessed a slight y-t-d decrease of 1.32% to reach $108.97B.
Meanwhile, Claims on resident customers, constituting 14.11% of total assets, shrank by 22.30%, to stand at $24.68B in December 2021. Moreover, Resident Securities portfolio (10.76% of total assets) dropped by 16.26% during December to stand at $18.81B. Specifically, the Eurobond holding recorded a decline of 49.11% and totaled $4.78B for the same period, as banks are selling their Eurobonds to shore up their foreign currency liquidity.
Commercial Banks Assets and Residents Customer Deposits by November ($B)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST