The Lebanese Central Bank’s quarterly bulletin shows some 5.08% decrease in the net value of the securities portfolio on the books of the Lebanese financial sector (banks and financial institutions) during the first quarter of 2022 to LBP 2,218 billion ($1.47 billion), from LBP 2,336.4 billion ($1.55 billion) at year-end 2021. On an annual basis, the net value of securities portfolio held by the financial sector rose by 18.68% from LBP 1,868.7 billion ($1.24 billion) at end of March 2021. In details, the value of equity securities, which constituted 54.26% of the Lebanese financial sector’s net securities portfolio, fell by 7.95% year-to-date and by by 6.48% annually to LBP 1,203.5 billion ($0.80 billion). On the other hand, long-term debt securities, which represented some 45.68% of the sector’s net securities portfolio, fell by 1.41% since the beginning of the year, yet rose by 74.63% y-o-y to LBP 1,013.3 billion ($0.67 billion).

Medium & long-term banks controlled the lion’s share (28.45%) of the financial sector’s placements in equity securities, followed by financial institutions (27.33%) and commercial banks (24.87%). In a related note, commercial banks detained the largest stake (41.38%) of the financial sector’s placements in long-term debt securities, trailed by medium & long-term banks (29.32%) and insurance companies (25.80%).

From an asset allocation standpoint, the Lebanese financial sector’s securities portfolio was majority concentrated in U.S. equity instruments (26.53%), U.K. long-term debt securities (19.39%), and U.K. short-term debt securities (71.43%). The allocation of the investment portfolio by type of instrument across other countries at end of March 2022 is sketched in the table below: