According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 9.01% ($138.74 million) during the first eleven months of 2019 to $1,400.60 million, down from $1,539.34 million at year-end 2018. This can be mainly attributed to the 58.85% ($55.47 million) contraction in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $38.79 million, coupled with some 5.67% ($42.26 million) decrease in claims on customers to $702.59 million, a 9.13% ($30.30 million) drop in claims on the resident financial sector to $301.49 million and a 10.71% ($11.93 million) decline in the value of the securities portfolio to $99.41 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 50.16% and 21.53% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 33.36% ($124.31 million) in the first eleven months of 2019 to $248.29 million, with the value of debt securities issued sinking by 30.10% ($44.87 million) to $104.21 million and liabilities to the non-resident financial sector slipping by 11.91% ($17.06 million) to $126.21 million, altogether outweighing the 5.14% ($24.08 million) increase in financial institutions’ combined capital accounts to $492.42 million, the 7.39% ($16.51 million) expansion in other liabilities to $240.06 million, and 4.70% ($8.36 million) rise in customer deposits to $186.41 million.