According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon widened by 0.32% ($3.70 million) during the first month of 2022 to $1,145.86 million, up from $1,142.16 million at year-end 2021. This can be mainly attributed to the 4.30% ($20.78 million) increase in claims on customers to $503.80 million and the 1.95% ($1.43 million) rise in cash and deposits with Central Banks to $74.57 million, which altogether outweighed the 3.62% ($10.91 million) contraction in claims on the resident financial sector to $290.76 million, coupled with the 4.93% ($3.39 million) decrease in the value of the securities portfolio to $65.33 million, and the 18.66% ($2.43 million) drop in the value of other assets to $10.60 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 43.97% and 25.37% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, other liabilities soared by 11.39% ($24.88 million) in January to $243.26 million, with customer deposits rising by 5.76% ($11.92 million) to $218.66 million, altogether outweighing the 4.21% ($18.85 million) contraction in capital accounts to $428.59 million and the 12.53% ($14.71 million) drop in liabilities to the resident financial sector to $102.68 million, among others.