According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 4.72% ($72.62 million) during the first nine months of the current year to $1,466.72 million, down from $1,539.34 million at year-end 2018. This can be mainly attributed to the 49.34% ($46.52 million) contraction in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $47.75 million, coupled with some 11.14% ($12.40 million) drop in the value of the securities portfolio to $98.94 million and 1.39% ($10.34 million) decrease in claims on customers to $734.51 million. It is worth noting that claims on customers and on the resident financial sector are the two largest asset categories on financial institutions’ balance sheet, accounting for 50.08% and 22.59% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 13.70% ($51.04 million) in the first nine months of 2019 to $321.56 million, with the value of debt securities issued sinking by 29.45% ($43.91 million) to $105.17 million and liabilities to the non-resident financial sector slipping by 14.85% ($21.28 million) to $121.99 million, altogether outweighing the 8.75% ($19.56 million) increase in other liabilities to $243.11 million, the 3.95% ($18.50 million) expansion in financial institutions’ combined capital accounts to $486.84 million, and 3.94% ($7.01 million) rise in customer deposits to $185.06 million.