According to Central Bank statistics, the financial sector’s utilized credits fell by 6.36% y-o-y to nearly LBP 98,605.14 billion ($65.41 billion) in the first nine of 2019, down from around LBP 105,303.45 billion ($69.85 billion) in the same period in 2018. Of the total utilized credits amount, some LBP 1,920.1 billion ($1.27 billion) represent the value of utilized credits benefiting from banks liabilities subject to reserve requirements. The breakdown of utilized credits by type of facility reveals a sizeable concentration in Advances Against Real Estate ($25.57 billion <39.09%>), followed by Overdrafts ($17.77 billion <27.16%>) and Advances Against Personal Guarantees ($11.17 billion <17.08%>) only to name a few. The total number of utilized credit transactions stood at 609,869 as at end of September 2019, implying an average credit balance of around LBP 159.645 million ($107,252) per credit line.

From a sectoral breakdown perspective, the Trade & Services sector enjoyed the lion’s share ($22.53 billion <34.44%>) of total utilized credits, followed by loans to Individuals ($19.88 billion <30.40%>) and loans to the Construction sector ($10.55 billion <16.13%>). As for the distribution of utilized credits by number of borrowers, the number of Individual borrowers topped the list of borrowers (84.42% of total borrowers), followed by beneficiaries from the Trade & Services sector (10.48%) and borrowers in the Industrial sector (2.58%).

Geographically, the Beirut & Suburbs region amassed the highest concentration of utilized credits, detaining a 74.64% share by September 2019, followed by the Mount Lebanon (13.21%) and North (4.45%) regions among others.