According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 14.16% ($195.83 million) during the first nine months of 2020 to $1,186.76 million, down from $1,382.59 million at year-end 2019. This can be mainly attributed to the 22.94% ($153.99 million) contraction in claims on customers to $517.40 million, coupled with some 50.88% ($26.07 million) decrease in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $25.17 million and a 14.80% ($13.30 million) drop in the value of securities portfolio to $76.56 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 43.60% and 26.14% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 24.60% ($54.98 million) YTD September 2020 to $168.55 million, with liabilities to the non-resident financial sector decreasing by 33.46% ($41.72 million) to $82.98 million, customer deposits dropping by 18.99% ($35.72 million) to $152.40 million, and capital accounts falling by 6.05% ($29.41 million) to $456.98 million, altogether outweighing the 16.86% ($0.66 million) rise in public sector deposits to $4.60 million.