According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 15.20% ($210.14 million) during the year 2020 to $1,172.45 million, down from $1,382.59 million at year-end 2019. This can be mainly attributed to the 26.57% ($178.42 million) contraction in claims on customers to $492.98 million, coupled with some 49.88% ($25.56 million) decrease in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $25.68 million and a 18.06% ($16.23 million) drop in the value of securities portfolio to $73.64 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 42.05% and 27.62% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 29.67% ($66.31 million) in 2020 to $157.21 million, with liabilities to the non-resident financial sector decreasing by 37.32% ($46.54 million) to $78.16 million, customer deposits dropping by 14.85% ($27.94 million) to $160.18 million, and capital accounts falling by 4.66% ($22.65 million) to $463.74 million only to name a few, altogether outweighing the 33.30% ($1.31 million) rise in public sector deposits to $5.25 million.