According to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet, total assets decreased annually by 31.57% to stand at $117.18B by July 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 72.46% of total assets; they dropped annually by 25.52% to settle at $84.91B in July 2023. Deposits with the central bank (BDL) represented 99.17% of total reserves, and decreased by 24.23% YOY, to reach $84.20B in July 2023. Furthermore, Vault cash in Lebanese pound fell by 75.50% on a yearly basis to stand at $706.17M 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 6.67% of total assets, shrank significantly by 62.22%, to stand at $7.81B in July 2023. Moreover, Resident Securities portfolio (6.82% of total assets) dropped by 52.25% in July 2023 to stand at $7.98B. More specifically, the Eurobond holding recorded a decline of 32.74% since July 2022, to reach $2.65B by end of July 2023. Additionally, claims on non-resident financial sector increased by 16.50% YOY to stand at $4.45B by July 2023.
On the liabilities side, resident customers’ deposits were the main account, representing 63% of total liabilities; they decreased by 28.20% since July 2022 to reach $73.82B by the month of July 2023. In more details, deposits in foreign currencies (95.46% of resident customers’ deposits) decreased by 6.73% YOY to reach $70.46B by July 2023, additionally deposits in LBP (4.54% of resident customers’ deposits) fell by 87.69% YOY to stand at $3.35B by July 2023. Noting that Lebanon has become dollarized, and cash based.
As for Non-resident customers’ deposits, grasping 18.34% of total liabilities, they recorded a drop of 9.28% and stood at $21.48B in July 2023. In details, the deposits in LBP fell by 90.38% to reach $195.43M and deposits in foreign currencies declined by 1.67% to reach $21.29B over the same period. In addition, Non-resident financial sector Liabilities held 2.78% of total Liabilities and decreased by 25.37% YOY to reach $3.25B in July 2023. More importantly, the dollarization ratio for private sector deposits increased from 76.58% in July 2022 to 96.19% in July 2023.
Commercial Banks Assets and Residents Customer Deposits by July 2023 ($B)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST
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