According to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet, total assets decreased annually by 31.82% to stand at $112.25B by October 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 75.04% of total assets; they dropped annually by 23.51% to settle at $84.24B in October 2023. Deposits with the central bank (BDL) represented 99.33% of total reserves, and decreased by 21.61% YOY, to reach $83.67B in October 2023. Furthermore, Vault cash in Lebanese pound fell by 83.38% on a yearly basis to stand at $562.95M 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 6.55% of total assets, shrank significantly by 62.33%, to stand at $7.35B in October 2023. Moreover, Resident Securities portfolio (5.05% of total assets) dropped by 61.95% in October 2023 to stand at $5.67B. More specifically, the Eurobond holding recorded a decline of 30.15% since October 2022, to reach $2.48B by end of October 2023. Additionally, claims on non-resident financial sector increased by 5.12% YOY to stand at $4.2B by October 2023.
On the liabilities side, resident customers’ deposits were the main account, representing 64.55% of total liabilities; they decreased by 26.97% since October 2022 to reach $72.45B by the month of October 2023. In more details, deposits in foreign currencies (95.85% of resident customers’ deposits) decreased by 6.58% YOY to reach $69.45B by October 2023, additionally deposits in LBP (4.15% of resident customers’ deposits) fell by 87.91% YOY to stand at $3.01B by October 2023. Noting that Lebanon has become dollarized and cash based.
As for Non-resident customers’ deposits, grasping 18.9% of total liabilities, they recorded a drop of 9.16% and stood at $21.22B in October 2023. In details, the deposits in LBP fell by 90.53% to reach $188.82M and deposits in foreign currencies declined by 1.56% to reach $21.03B over the same period. In addition, Non-resident financial sector Liabilities held 2.69% of total Liabilities and decreased by 29.79% YOY to reach $3.02B in October 2023. More importantly, the dollarization ratio for private sector deposits increased from 77.57% in October 2022 to 96.47% in October 2023.
Commercial Banks Assets and Residents Customer Deposits by October 2023 ($B)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST
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