According to BDL statistics, the combined balance sheet of commercial banks operating in Lebanon contracted by 5.09% (LBP 16,624 billion) during the first four months of the current year to LBP 310,173 billion ($205.75 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 18.88% lower than the LBP 382,374 billion ($253.65 billion) reading reported at end of April 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 emanating from financial engineering transactions 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 7.02% (LBP 17,326 billion) during the first four months of 2020 to LBP 229,538 billion ($152.26 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 6.38% (LBP 12,151 billion) drop in the deposits of the resident private sector to LBP 178,415 billion ($118.35 billion), accompanied by a 10.12% (LBP 4,953 billion) decrease in the deposits of the non-resident private sector to LBP 43,967 billion ($29.17 billion). In addition, public sector deposits dropped by 3.02% (LBP 223 billion) to LBP 7,156 billion ($4.75 billion). From a currency denomination standpoint, deposits in Lebanese Pounds receded by 16.69% (LBP 10,817 billion) by April 2020 to LBP 53,981 billion ($35.81 billion), with foreign currency deposits also dropping by 3.58% (LBP 6,509 billion) to LBP 175,556 billion ($116.46 billion). In this context, the deposit dollarization rate increased to 78.94% as at end of April in comparison with 76.02% as at end of 2019 and 70.93% at end of April of the previous year. On an annual basis, total customer deposits narrowed by 14.14% from LBP 267,356 billion ($177.35 billion) at end of April 2019.

On the lending front, loans to the private sector (residents and non-residents) receded by 11.80% (LBP 8,851 billion) during the first four months of April 2020 to LBP 66,176 billion ($43.90 billion), down from LBP 75,027 billion ($49.77 billion) in December 2019. The loans portfolio also sank by 22.95% on an annual basis, resulting in a ratio of net loans to customer deposits of 28.83% at end of April 2020, compared to 30.39% at end of 2019 and 32.12% in April 2019. More specifically, the ratio of LBP-denominated private sector loans to LBP deposits stood at 42.25% by end of April 2020, in comparison with 36.23% at year-end 2019 and 31.33% at end of April 2019. On the other hand, the ratio of foreign currency-denominated private sector loans to foreign currency deposits fell to 24.70% at end of April 2020 from 28.31% at end of December and 32.48% in April 2019.

The consolidated capital accounts of commercial banks operating in Lebanon increased by 0.31% YTD April 2020 to around LBP 31,335 billion ($20.79 billion) yet came in lower than the LBP 31,987 billion ($21.22 billion) reading reported at end of April 2019.