According to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet, total assets decreased annually by 32.53% to stand at $112.69B by September 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 74.98% of total assets; they dropped annually by 24.03% to settle at $84.5B in September 2023. Deposits with the central bank (BDL) represented 99.19% of total reserves, and decreased by 22.62% YOY, to reach $83.81B in September 2023. Furthermore, Vault cash in Lebanese pound fell by 76.44% on a yearly basis to stand at $685.52M 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 6.63% of total assets, shrank significantly by 62.1%, to stand at $7.48B in September 2023. Moreover, Resident Securities portfolio (5.44% of total assets) dropped by 60.75% in September 2023 to stand at $6.13B. More specifically, the Eurobond holding recorded a decline of 30.95% since September 2022, to reach $2.58B by end of September 2023. Additionally, claims on non-resident financial sector increased by 10.85% YOY to stand at $4.42B by September 2023.
On the liabilities side, resident customers’ deposits were the main account, representing 64.75% of total liabilities; they decreased by 26.97% since September 2022 to reach $72.97B by the month of September 2023. In more details, deposits in foreign currencies (95.67% of resident customers’ deposits) decreased by 6.78% YOY to reach $69.81B by September 2023, additionally deposits in LBP (4.33% of resident customers’ deposits) fell by 87.38% YOY to stand at $3.16B by September 2023. Noting that Lebanon has become dollarized and cash based.
As for Non-resident customers’ deposits, grasping 18.82% of total liabilities, they recorded a drop of 9.37% and stood at $21.21B in September 2023. In details, the deposits in LBP fell by 90.41% to reach $192.62M and deposits in foreign currencies declined by 1.76% to reach $21.01B over the same period. In addition, Non-resident financial sector Liabilities held 2.76% of total Liabilities and decreased by 29.29% YOY to reach $3.11B in September 2023. More importantly, the dollarization ratio for private sector deposits increased from 77.66% in September 2022 to 96.34% in September 2023.
Commercial Banks Assets and Residents Customer Deposits by September 2023 ($B)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST
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