According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 11.50% ($158.93 million) during the first half of 2020 to $1,223.66 million, down from $1,382.59 million at year-end 2019. This can be mainly attributed to the 17.00% ($114.14 million) contraction in claims on customers to $557.25 million, coupled with some 51.04% ($26.16 million) decrease in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $25.09 million and a 2.44% ($7.50 million) drop in claims on the resident financial sector to $299.19 million, among others. 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 45.54% and 24.45% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 20.57% ($45.98 million) YTD June 2020 to $177.54 million, with customer deposits dropping by 19.70% ($37.05 million) to $151.07 million, liabilities to the non-resident financial sector decreasing by 24.95% ($31.11 million) to $93.59 million and capital accounts falling by 3.84% ($18.66 million) to $467.74 million, altogether outweighing the 21.90% ($0.86 million) rise in public sector deposits to $4.80 million.