According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 3.45% ($39.46 million) during the first eight months of 2022 to $1,102.70 million, down from $1,142.16 million at year-end 2021. This can be mainly attributed to the 31.71% ($51.33 million) decrease in the value of fixed assets to $110.52 million, coupled with the 8.86% ($26.73 million) contraction in claims on the resident financial sector to $274.93 million and the 16.08% ($11.05 million) drop in the value of securites portfolio to $57.66 million and a 23.53% ($3.07 million) decrease in the value of other assets to $9.97 million, which altogether outweighed the 7.19% ($34.71 million) rise in claims on customers to $517.74 million, the 16.66% ($12.19 million) increase in cash and deposits with Central Banks to $85.33 million and the 18.07% ($5.82 million) rise in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $38.03 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 46.95% and 24.93% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, financial institutions’ customer deposits fell by 19.01% ($39.30 million) in the first eight months of 2022 to $167.45 million, with capital accounts concurrently dropping by 6.01% ($26.87 million) to $420.57 million and liabilities to the non-resident financial sector decreasing by 10.72% ($6.82 million) to $56.78 million, among others, altogether outweighing the 17.36% ($37.92 million) appreciation in debt securities issued to $75.64 million and the 3.34% ($3.92 million) rise in liabilities to the resident financial sector to $121.31 million.