According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 2.59% ($30.42 million) during the year 2021 to $1,142.02 million, down from $1,172.45 million at year-end 2020. This can be mainly attributed to the 6.87% ($22.24 million) contraction in claims on the resident financial sector to $301.64 million, coupled with the 7.11% ($12.39 million) decrease in the value of fixed assets to $161.85 million, and the 2.06% ($10.16 million) drop in claims on customers to $482.82 million among others, which altogether outweighed the 14.14% ($9.07 million) increase in cash and deposits with Central Banks to $73.23 million, the 25.41% ($6.53 million) rise in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $32.21 million, and the 87.13% ($3.97 million) increase in claims on the public sector to $8.52 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 42.28% and 26.41% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 25.33% ($39.82 million) in 2021 to $117.39 million, with capital accounts dropping by 3.51% ($16.30 million) to $447.44 million, liabilities to the non-resident financial sector falling by 18.63% ($14.56 million) to $63.60 million, and issued debt securities decreasing by 8.86% ($8.06 million) to $82.90 million, altogether outweighing the 29.07% ($46.56 million) rise in customer deposits to $206.75 million and the 0.60% ($1.30 million) increase in other liabilities to $218.24 million.