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 732,712 checks by April 2022 to 190,418 checks by April 2023. Moreover, the cumulative value of cleared checks in local currency increased remarkably from LBP 10,961B by April 2022 to LBP 17,963B by April 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 $4,070M by April 2022 to $1,688M by April 2023.
Moreover, the volumes of cleared checks in Lebanese Pounds and foreign currencies witnessed significant yearly drops of 62.51% and 85.88% respectively to settle at 139,512 and 50,906 checks, by April 2023. Accordingly, the dollarization rate of checks in terms of volume fell from 49.21% in April 2022 to 26.73% in April 2023.
Notably, the number of returned checks fell substantially by 68.67% YOY to stand at 1,635 checks. Moreover, the value of returned checks in foreign currency increased by 1.75% by April 2023 to reach $58M, additionally the value of returned checks in local currency increased remarkably by 511.86% YOY to reach LBP 361B by April 2023.
Number of Checks by April 2023 (in Thousands)
Source: ABL, BLOMINVEST
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