According to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet, total assets decreased annually by 33.38% to stand at $115.21B by May 2023 amid BDL’s adoption of a new exchange rate of LBP 15,000 per USD.
On the assets side, currency and deposits with Central Bank represented a high figure of 74.6% of total assets; they dropped annually by 24.76% to settle at $85.96B in May 2023. Deposits with the central bank (BDL) represented 98.52% of total reserves, and decreased by 23.3% YOY, to reach $84.68B in May 2023. Furthermore, Vault cash in Lebanese pound fell by 66.8% on a yearly basis to stand at $1272M by the same period. The drop is attributed to the calculation based on the new official exchange rate of LBP 15000 per USD.
Claims on resident customers, constituting 7.21% of total assets, shrank significantly by 61.9%, to stand at $8.31B in May 2023. Moreover, Resident Securities portfolio (6.07% of total assets) dropped by 59.8% in May 2023 to stand at $6.99B. More specifically, the Eurobond holding recorded a decline of 34.54% since May 2022, to reach $2.77B by end of May 2023. Additionally, claims on non-resident financial sector increased by 10.26% YOY to stand at $4.22B by May 2023.
On the liabilities side, resident customers’ deposits were the main account, representing 64.89% of total liabilities; they decreased by 27.84% since May 2022 to reach $74.76B in the month of May 2023. In more details, deposits in foreign currencies (94.92% of resident customers’ deposits) decreased by 7.31% YOY to reach $70.96B by May 2023, additionally deposits in LBP (5.08% of resident customers’ deposits) fell by 85.95% YOY to stand at $3.8B by May 2023. Noting that Lebanon has become dollarized and cash based.
As for Non-resident customers’ deposits, grasping 18.62% of total liabilities, they recorded a drop of 10.62% and stood at $21.46B in May 2023. In details, the deposits in LBP fell by 89.85% to reach $209.26M and deposits in foreign currencies declined by 3.17% to reach $21.25B over the same period. In addition, Non-resident financial sector Liabilities held 2.83% of total Liabilities and decreased by 25.59% YOY to reach $3.26B in May 2023. More importantly, the dollarization ratio for private sector deposits increased from 76.97% in May 2022 to 95.77% in May 2023.
Commercial Banks Assets and Residents Customer Deposits by May 2023 ($B)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST
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