According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 14.60% ($201.80 million) during the first eleven months of 2020 to $1,180.79 million, down from $1,382.59 million at year-end 2019. This can be mainly attributed to the 25.32% ($169.97 million) contraction in claims on customers to $501.43 million, coupled with some 50.17% ($25.71 million) decrease in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $25.54 million and a 20.16% ($18.11 million) drop in the value of securities portfolio to $71.75 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 42.47% and 27.00% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 27.45% ($61.36 million) YTD November 2020 to $162.17 million, with liabilities to the non-resident financial sector decreasing by 36.61% ($45.65 million) to $79.05 million, customer deposits dropping by 17.84% ($33.56 million) to $154.56 million, and capital accounts falling by 5.38% ($26.19 million) to $460.20 million only to name a few, altogether outweighing the 18.73% ($0.74 million) rise in public sector deposits to $4.68 million.