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 356,777 checks by February 2022 to 93,120 checks by February 2023. Moreover, the cumulative value of cleared checks in local currency increased remarkably from LBP 5,310B by February 2022 to LBP 9,240B by February 2023. This upsurge is driven by a significant increase in value of Lebanese checks which reflects a larger percentage of discounting Lebanese checks in the market. Meanwhile, the cumulative value of cleared checks in foreign currency fell from $1,987M by February 2022 to $1,071M by February 2023.
Moreover, the volumes of cleared checks in Lebanese Pounds and foreign currencies witnessed significant yearly drops of 62.74% and 84.93% respectively to settle at 66,072 and 27,048 checks, by February 2023. Accordingly, the dollarization rate of checks in terms of volume fell from 50.3% in February 2022 to 29.05% in February 2023.
Notably, the number of returned checks fell substantially by 75.4% YOY to stand at 683 checks. Moreover, the value of returned checks in foreign currency dropped by 34.38% by February 2023 to reach $21M, while the value of returned checks in local currency increased remarkably by 575.86% YOY to reach LBP 196B by February 2023.
Value of Cleared Checks by Currency, by February 2023 (in Billions)
Source: ABL, BLOMINVEST
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