According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 3.47% ($40.71 million) during the first ten months of 2021 to $1,131.74 million, down from $1,172.45 million at year-end 2020. This can be mainly attributed to the 9.30% ($30.13 million) contraction in claims on the resident financial sector to $293.74 million, coupled with the 2.64% ($13.03 million) decrease in claims on customers to $479.95 million, the 4.96% ($3.66 million) drop in the value of the securities portfolio to $69.98 million, and a 5.15% ($8.97 million) decrease in the value of fixed assets to $165.27 million, altogether outweighing the 13.39% ($8.59 million) rise in cash and deposits with Central Banks to $72.75 million, the 86.98% ($3.96 million) increase in claims on the public sector to $8.51 million, and the 13.70% ($3.52 million) increase in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $29.20 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 42.41% and 25.96% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 28.74% ($45.18 million) YTD October 2021 to $112.03 million, with capital accounts dropping by 2.68% ($12.45 million) to $451.29 million, liabilities to the non-resident financial sector falling by 15.35% ($12.00 million) to $66.16 million, issued debt securities decreasing by 8.87% ($8.07 million) to $82.90 million, and public sector deposits contracting by 1.63% ($0.09 million) to $5.16 million, altogether outweighing the 16.32% ($26.14 million) rise in customer deposits to $186.33 million and the 5.04% ($10.93 million) increase in other liabilities to $227.87 million.