According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 12.36% ($170.89 million) during the first eight months of 2020 to $1,211.70 million, down from $1,382.59 million at year-end 2019. This can be mainly attributed to the 20.60% ($138.32 million) contraction in claims on customers to $533.08 million, coupled with some 58.13% ($29.79 million) decrease in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $21.46 million and a 7.70% ($6.92 million) drop in the value of securities portfolio to $82.94 million, only to name a few. 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 43.99% and 25.56% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 21.24% ($47.47 million) YTD August 2020 to $176.06 million, with liabilities to the non-resident financial sector decreasing by 29.43% ($36.70 million) to $88.00 million, customer deposits dropping by 17.47% ($32.86 million) to $155.26 million, and capital accounts falling by 3.70% ($17.98 million) to $468.41 million, altogether outweighing the 16.80% ($0.66 million) rise in public sector deposits to $4.60 million.