According to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet, total assets decreased annually by 7.28% to stand at $172.7B by March 2022.
On the liabilities side, resident customers’ deposits were the main account, representing 59.43% of total liabilities; they decreased by 5.4% since March 2021 to reach $102.63B in March 2022. In more details, deposits in foreign currencies (76% of resident customers’ deposits) decreased remarkably by 7.58% YOY in March 2022, while deposits in LBP (24% of resident customers’ deposits) increased by 2.17% in March 2022. This phenomenon is justified by the fact that some depositors are withdrawing their whole USD limit, imposed by the bank, every month.
As for Non-resident customers’ deposits, grasping 13.95% of total liabilities, they recorded a drop of 10.41% and stood at $24.1B in March 2022. In details, the deposits in LBP retracted by 10% to reach $1.997B while deposits in foreign currencies declined by 10.45% to reach $22.09B over the same period. More importantly, the dollarization ratio for private sector deposits decreased from 80.24% in March 2021 to 78.68% in March 2022. In addition, Non-resident financial sector Liabilities held 2.56% of total Liabilities and decreased by 25.73% to reach $4.42B YOY. It is interesting to reflect that resident and non-resident customers’ deposit represent 73% of total liabilities.
On the assets side, currency and deposits with Central Bank, represented a high figure of 65.27% of total assets; they recorded a yearly uptick of 1.19% to settle at $112.72B in March 2022. Deposits with the central bank (BDL) represented 97.6% of total reserves, and remained almost stable YOY, to reach $110.01B in March 2022.
Meanwhile, Claims on resident customers, constituting 13.35% of total assets, shrank by 23.69%, to stand at $23.06B in March 2022. Moreover, Resident Securities portfolio (9.88% of total assets) dropped by 21.86% in March 2022 to stand at $17.06B. More specifically, the Eurobond holding recorded a decline of 46.17% since March 2021, to reach $4.54B in March 2022, as banks are selling their Eurobonds to shore up their foreign currency liquidity.
Commercial Banks Assets and Residents Customer Deposits by March ($B)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST