According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 5.37% ($74.21 million) during the first two months of 2020 to $1,308.38 million, down from $1,382.59 million at year-end 2019. This can be mainly attributed to the 6.97% ($46.81 million) contraction in claims on customers to $624.58 million, coupled with some 49.84% ($25.54 million) decrease in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $25.71 million, and a 9.22% ($5.06 million) drop in cash and deposits with central banks to $49.85 million, which outweighed the 2.55% ($7.82 million) increase in claims on the resident financial sector to $314.51 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 47.74% and 24.04% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 16.29% ($36.42 million) YTD February 2020 to $187.10 million, with the capital accounts slipping by 2.94% ($14.28 million) to $472.11 million and liabilities to the non-resident financial sector dropping by 10.73% ($13.38 million) to $111.31 million, altogether outweighing the 2.55% ($6.24 million) rise in other liabilities to $250.29 million.