According to the data published by the Association of Lebanese Banks’ (ABL), the total number of cleared checks in the Lebanese financial system slumped from 2,555,352 checks from September 2021 to 1,306,237 checks by September 2022. Consequently, the value of total cleared checks decreased yearly by 12.56% to reach $25.04B by September 2022.
In more details, the value of checks in LBP increased remarkably from $13.78B in September 2021 to reach $17.04B by September 2022, while value of checks in foreign currencies decreased significantly by 46.14% year on year (YOY) to reach $8B by September 2022.
Moreover, the volumes of cleared checks in Lebanese Pounds and foreign currencies witnessed significant yearly drops of 42.13% and 54.q85% respectively to settle at 698,087 and 608,150 checks, by September 2022.
Accordingly, the dollarization of cleared checks in terms of value declined from 51.89% in September 2021 to 31.96% by September 2022. In the same token, the dollarization rate of checks in terms of volume fell from 52.71% in September 2021 to 46.56% in September 2022.
Notably, the number of returned checks fell substantially by 56.46% YOY to stand at 9,016 checks while the value of returned checks retreated by 45.20% YOY to reach $224M by September 2022. Noting that banker checks are recently being more used to conduct check payment transactions, thus decreasing the number of returned checks. Furthermore, in September, banks went on a strike since depositors were holding them hostages in order to retrieve money in their bank account; as a result, customers without ATM cards were unable to deposit checks in their account. Also, checks are less accepted as a mode of payment since the economy is heading towards full cash-dollarization.
Value of Cleared Checks by Currency, by September (in $B)
Source: ABL, BLOMINVEST