According to Central Bank statistics, the financial sector’s utilized credits fell by 28.28% in the year 2020 to nearly LBP 64,392.66 billion ($42.71 billion), down from LBP 89,779.56 billion ($59.56 billion) a year earlier, as borrowers flocked to prepay loans from their deposit accounts in fear of any haircuts on deposits and an imminent depreciation of the Lebanese pound. Of total utilized credits, some LBP 985.8 billion ($0.65 billion) represent the value of utilized credits benefiting from banks liabilities subject to reserve requirements. The breakdown of utilized credits by type of facility reveals a sizeable concentration in Advances Against Real Estate ($20.08 billion <47.01%>), followed by Overdrafts ($12.18 billion <28.53%>) and Advances Against Personal Guarantees ($6.42 billion <15.02%>) only to name a few. The total number of utilized credit transactions stood at 436,462 as at end of December 2020, implying an average credit balance of around LBP 97.866 million ($147,533) per credit line.

From a sectoral breakdown perspective, Individuals enjoyed the lion’s share ($15.15 billion <35.48%>) of total utilized credits, followed by loans to the Trade & Services sector ($13.40 billion <31.37%>) and loans to the Construction sector ($6.28 billion <14.71%>). As for the distribution of utilized credits by number of borrowers, the number of Individual borrowers topped the list of borrowers (85.59% of total borrowers), followed by beneficiaries from the Trade & Services sector (10.55%) and borrowers in the Industrial sector (2.84%).

Geographically, the Beirut & Suburbs region amassed the highest concentration of utilized credits, detaining a 73.50% share by December 2020, followed by the Mount Lebanon (13.51%) and North (4.86%) regions among others.