According to BDL statistics, the combined balance sheet of commercial banks operating in Lebanon contracted by 3.80% (LBP 12,409 billion) during the first quarter of the current year  to LBP 314,389 billion ($208.55 billion), down from LBP 326,797 billion ($216.78 billion) in December 2019. On an annual basis, the combined assets of the resident banking sector came in 17.49% lower than the LBP 381,023 billion ($252.75 billion) reading reported at end of March of last year. This drop is partly attributed to banks offsetting their LBP loans from BDL with their respective similar maturity LBP placements with the Central Bank associated with financial engineering operations with the latter in order to conform with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) together with the sizeable drop in the loans portfolio.

On the funding side of the balance sheet, customer deposits fell by 5.79% (LBP 14,295 billion) during the first quarter of 2020 to LBP 232,569 billion ($154.27 billion) bearing in mind that they also fell by $3.61 billion in December and by $5.86 billion in November 2019. This comes on the back of the bank run witnessed in the aftermath of the social uprising and resignation of the previous government. This YTD contraction came as a result of the 5.11% (LBP 9,730 billion) drop in the deposits of the resident private sector to LBP 180,836 billion ($119.96 billion), accompanied by an 8.69% (LBP 4,249 billion) decrease in the deposits of the non-resident private sector to LBP 44,671 billion ($29.63 billion). In addition, public sector deposits dropped by 4.29% (LBP 316 billion) to LBP 7,063 billion ($4.68 billion). From a currency denomination standpoint, deposits in Lebanese Pounds receded by 12.34% (LBP 7,994 billion) during the first three months of 2020 to LBP 56,805 billion ($37.68 billion), with foreign currency deposits also dropping by 3.46% (LBP 6,302 billion) to LBP 175,764 billion ($116.59 billion). In this context, the deposit dollarization rate increased to 77.94% by end of March in comparison with 76.02% as at end of 2019 and 70.60% at end of March of the previous year. On an annual basis, total customer deposits narrowed by 12.89% from LBP 266,969 billion ($177.09 billion) at end of March 2019.

On the lending front, loans to the private sector (residents and non-residents) receded by 9.55% (LBP 7,166 billion) during the first quarter of 2020 to LBP 67,860 billion ($45.02 billion), down from LBP 75,027 billion ($49.77 billion) in December 2019. The loans portfolio also sank by 21.48% on an annual basis, resulting in a ratio of net loans to customer deposits of 29.18% at end of March 2020, compared to 30.39% at end of 2019 and 32.37% in March 2019. More specifically, the ratio of LBP-denominated private sector loans to LBP deposits stood at 40.25% by end of March 2020, in comparison with 36.23% at year-end 2019 and 31.46% at end of March 2019. On the other hand, the ratio of foreign currency-denominated private sector loans to foreign currency deposits fell to 25.60% at end of Q1-2020 from 28.31% at end of December and 32.79% in March 2019.

The consolidated capital accounts of commercial banks operating in Lebanon remained almost flat at around LBP 31,234 billion ($20.72 billion) at end of March 2020 yet came in lower than the LBP 33,243 billion ($22.05 billion) reading reported at end of March 2019.