According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 6.05% ($70.88 million) during the first five months of 2021 to $1,101.57 million, down from $1,172.45 million at year-end 2020. This can be mainly attributed to the 10.59% ($52.20 million) contraction in claims on customers to $440.78 million, coupled with some 3.03% ($9.83 million) decrease in claims on the resident financial sector to $314.05 million and an 11.48% ($7.37 million) drop in cash and deposits with Central Banks to $56.79 million, altogether outweighing the 5.54% ($4.08 million) increase in the value of the securities portfolio to $77.72 million, the 4.94% ($0.66 million) hike in the value of other assets to $13.97 million, the 2.40% ($0.62 million) increase in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $26.30 million and the 9.21% ($0.42 million) rise in claims on the public sector to $4.97 million. 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 40.01% and 28.51% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 45.71% ($71.85 million) YTD May 2021 to $85.36 million, with capital accounts falling by 3.05% ($14.16 million) to $449.58 million, and liabilities to the non-resident financial sector decreasing by 5.60% ($4.37 million) to $73.79 million, altogether outweighing the 7.45% ($16.17 million) rise in other liabilities to $233.11 million and the 2.52% ($4.04 million) increase in customer deposits to $164.22 million.