According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 2.93% ($40.48 million) during the first month of 2020 to $1,342.11 million, down from $1,382.59 million at year-end 2019. This can be mainly attributed to the 3.89% ($26.10 million) contraction in claims on customers to $645.29 million, coupled with some 39.97% ($20.48 million) decrease in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $30.76 million and a 7.46% ($4.10 million) drop in cash and deposits with central banks to $50.82 million, which outweighed the 3.99% ($12.25 million) increase in claims on the resident financial sector to $318.93 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 48.08% and 23.76% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 11.39% ($25.47 million) in January 2020 to $198.06 million, with the liabilities to the non-resident financial sector slipping by 10.61% ($13.23 million) to $111.46 million and capital accounts dropping by 2.61% ($12.68 million) to $473.71 million, altogether outweighing the 4.76% ($11.62 million) rise in other liabilities to $255.67 million.