According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the combined balance sheet of investment banks operating in Lebanon fell by 0.44% during the first seven months of 2022 to $3.99 billion, down from $4.01 billion at end of 2021. In details, claims on the private sector (comprising resident and non-resident customers) fell by 10.05% YTD July 2022 to $1.45 billion, with claims on the non-resident financial sector dropping by 21.92% to $46 million and other assets narrowing by 2.32% to $75 million, altogether outweighing the 9.09% rise in cash and deposits with Central Banks to $1.45 billion and the 6.18% increase in the value of securities portfolio to $618 million, only to name a few. On the liabilities side, private sector deposits (resident and non-resident customers, in addition to the resident financial sector) dropped by 7.43% in the first seven months of 2022 to $1.03 billion, with other liabilities contracting by 2.16% to $1.13 billion and previously issued debt securities being fully reimbursed, outweighing the 5.72% increase in investment banks’ capital accounts to $1.67 billion, the 94.40% rise in liabilities to the public sector to $9 million and the 0.71% appreciation in liabilities to the non-resident financial sector to $150 million.

Abiding by legislative decree number 50 and subsequent BDL circulars, investment banks operating in Lebanon have managed over the last couple of years to increase their lending activity to the private sector while reducing their exposure to the public sector. As a result, the surplus representing the difference between loans to the private sector and claims on the public sector reached $1.45 billion by end of July 2022.