According to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet, total assets decreased annually by 31.79% to stand at $112.58B by November 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 74.95% of total assets; they dropped annually by 22.43% to settle at $84.37B in November 2023. Deposits with the central bank (BDL) represented 99.28% of total reserves, and decreased by 20.87% YOY, to reach $83.77B in November 2023. Furthermore, Vault cash in Lebanese pound fell by 79.2% on a yearly basis to stand at $605.91M 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 6.52% of total assets, shrank significantly by 61.2%, to stand at $7.34B in November 2023. Moreover, Resident Securities portfolio (4.97% of total assets) dropped by 61.53% in November 2023 to stand at $5.59B. More specifically, the Eurobond holding recorded a decline of 29.99% since November 2022, to reach $2.41B by end of November 2023. Additionally, claims on non-resident financial sector increased by 4.82% YOY to stand at $4.31B by November 2023.
On the liabilities side, resident customers’ deposits were the main account, representing 64.67% of total liabilities; they decreased by 26.51% since November 2022 to reach $72.8B by the month of November 2023. In more details, deposits in foreign currencies (95.4% of resident customers’ deposits) decreased by 5.99% YOY to reach $69.46B by November 2023, additionally deposits in LBP (4.6% of resident customers’ deposits) fell by 86.72% YOY to stand at $3.35B by November 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 9.54% and stood at $21.18B in November 2023. In details, the deposits in LBP fell by 90.35% to reach $192.01M and deposits in foreign currencies declined by 2.03% to reach $20.99B over the same period. In addition, Non-resident financial sector Liabilities held 2.69% of total Liabilities and decreased by 29.92% YOY to reach $3.02B in November 2023. More importantly, the dollarization ratio for private sector deposits increased from 77.41% in November 2022 to 96.12% in November 2023.
Commercial Banks Assets and Residents Customer Deposits by November 2023 ($B)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST
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