To start with, BDL issued on April 14th, 2025 intermediate circular #734 (decision 13717) amending some of the clauses mentioned in the previous intermediate circular #733 (decision 13716) related to restrictions on banks’ operations. In details, this new circular requires banks to get a prior approval from the Central Bank before trading of stock listed on Beirut Stock Exchange, Eurobonds and other securities in local dollars. Moreover, the circular cancelled the clause that states that banks should take a prior approval to sell Eurobonds abroad.
That said, according to Lebanon’s consolidated commercial banks’ balance sheet, total assets declined by 1.10% on year over year (YoY) basis to stand at $102.66B in March 2025 amid BDL’s adoption of a new exchange rate of LBP 89,500 per USD effective 31/01/2024.
On the assets side, currency and deposits with Central Bank represented a high figure of 77.30% of total assets; they dropped annually by 2.30% to settle at $79.36B in March 2025. Deposits with the central bank (BDL) represented 99.88% of total reserves, and decreased by 2.30% YoY, to reach $79.26B in March 2025. Furthermore, vault cash in Lebanese pound declined by 1.64% on a yearly basis to stand at $97.01M by the same period.
Claims on resident customers, constituting 4.53% of total assets, shrank by 21.87% to stand at $4.65B in March 2025. Moreover, resident securities portfolio, representing 5.53% of total assets, increased by 18.35% in March 2025 to stand at $5.68B. More specifically, the Eurobond holding recorded an increase of 4.18% since March 2024, to reach $2.31B (net of provisions) in March 2025. Additionally, claims on non-resident financial sector rose by 15.01% YoY to stand at $5.07B by March 2025.
On the liabilities side, resident customers’ deposits were the main account, representing 65.31% of total liabilities; they dropped by 2.80% since March 2024 to reach $67.05B by the month of March 2025. In more details, deposits in foreign currencies (being 98.79% of resident customers’ deposits) declined by 3.20% YoY to reach $66.24B by March 2025, additionally deposits in LBP (1.21% of resident customers’ deposits) increased by 46.75% YoY to stand at $811.74M by March 2025. This reveals that a slightly higher proportion of deposits are now held in LBP, as the dollarization ratio for private sector deposits decreased from 99.33% in March 2024 to 99.02% in March 2025.
As for non-resident customers’ deposits, grasping 20.46% of total liabilities, they recorded a rise of 0.31% and stood at $21.0B in March 2025. In details, the deposits in LBP rose by 1.15% to reach $ 31.41M and deposits in foreign currencies increased by 0.31% to reach $20.97B over the same period. In addition, non-resident financial sector liabilities representing 2.51% of total liabilities and decreased by 6.15% YoY to reach $2.58B in March 2025.
Lastly, the capital accounts stood at $4.54B, higher by 54.36% than March 2024, noting that only about 10% of those are in LBP.
Commercial Banks Total Assets and Resident Customer Deposits in March 2025 ($B)
Source: BDL, BLOMINVEST
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