According to BDL statistics, the combined balance sheet of commercial banks operating in Lebanon contracted by 5.97% (LBP 19,504 billion) during the first five months of the current year to LBP 307,293 billion ($203.84 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 19.63% lower than the LBP 382,347 billion ($253.63 billion) reading reported at end of May 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 7.70% (LBP 19,005 billion) during the first five months of 2020 to LBP 227,860 billion ($151.15 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 7.27% (LBP 13,852 billion) drop in the deposits of the resident private sector to LBP 176,714 billion ($117.22 billion), accompanied by a 10.41% (LBP 5,091 billion) decrease in the deposits of the non-resident private sector to LBP 43,829 billion ($29.07 billion). In addition, public sector deposits dropped by 0.84% (LBP 62 billion) to LBP 7,317 billion ($4.85 billion). From a currency denomination standpoint, deposits in Lebanese Pounds receded by 19.17% (LBP 12,425 billion) by May 2020 to LBP 52,373 billion ($34.74 billion), with foreign currency deposits also dropping by 3.61% (LBP 6,580 billion) to LBP 175,485 billion ($116.41 billion). In this context, the deposit dollarization rate increased to 79.57% as at end of May in comparison with 76.02% as at end of 2019 and 71.22% at end of May of the previous year. On an annual basis, total customer deposits narrowed by 13.96% from LBP 264,839 billion ($175.68 billion) at end of May 2019.

On the lending front, loans to the private sector (residents and non-residents) receded by 13.79% (LBP 10,344 billion) during the first five months of May 2020 to LBP 64,682 billion ($42.91 billion), down from LBP 75,027 billion ($49.77 billion) in December 2019. The loans portfolio also sank by 23.82% on an annual basis, resulting in a ratio of net loans to customer deposits of 28.39% at end of May 2020, compared to 30.39% at end of 2019 and 32.06% in May 2019. More specifically, the ratio of LBP-denominated private sector loans to LBP deposits stood at 43.59% by end of May 2020, in comparison with 36.23% at year-end 2019 and 31.58% at end of May 2019. On the other hand, the ratio of foreign currency-denominated private sector loans to foreign currency deposits fell to 23.85% at end of May 2020 from 28.31% at end of December and 32.27% in May 2019.

The consolidated capital accounts of commercial banks operating in Lebanon dropped by 2.18% YTD May 2020 to around LBP 30,559 billion ($20.27 billion) and came in lower than the LBP 31,783 billion ($21.28 billion) reading reported at end of May 2019.