According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 14.64% ($202.36 million) during the first ten months of 2020 to $1,180.23 million, down from $1,382.59 million at year-end 2019. This can be mainly attributed to the 24.01% ($161.19 million) contraction in claims on customers to $510.20 million, coupled with some 49.81% ($25.53 million) decrease in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $25.72 million and a 21.00% ($18.87 million) drop in the value of securities portfolio to $70.99 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 43.23% and 26.39% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 24.89% ($55.64 million) YTD October 2020 to $167.88 million, with liabilities to the non-resident financial sector decreasing by 34.11% ($42.54 million) to $82.16 million, customer deposits dropping by 20.38% ($38.34 million) to $149.78 million, and capital accounts falling by 6.07% ($29.51 million) to $456.88 million only to name a few, altogether outweighing the 15.14% ($0.60 million) rise in public sector deposits to $4.53 million.