According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon widened by 321.21% (LBP 5,442.05 billion) during the first two months of 2023 to LBP 7,136.27 billion, up from LBP 1,694.21 billion at year-end 2022. This sizeable increase is mostly explained by the adoption of the new official exchange rate of LBP 15,000 per USD starting February instead of LBP 1,507.5 previously. In details, claims on customers rose by 341.54% (LBP 2,815.98 billion) YTD February 2023 to LBP 3,640.47 billion and was accompanied by some 369.12% (LBP 1,546.04 billion) rise in claims on the resident financial sector to LBP 1,964.89 billion coupled with a 799.73% (LBP 519.13 billion) increase in claims on the non-resident financial sector to LBP 584.05 billion, altogether outweighing the 81.39% (LBP 10.88 billion) contraction in claims on the public sector to LBP 2.49 billion. It is worth noting that claims on customers and claims on the resident financial sector are the two largest asset categories on financial institutions’ balance sheet, accounting for 51.01% and 27.53% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, customer deposits soared by 564.09% (LBP 1,677.50 billion) to LBP 1,974.88 billion, with capital accounts increasing by 252.57% (LBP 1,913.38 billion) to LBP 2,670.93 billion and other liabilities rising by 233.47% (LBP 913.18 billion) to LBP 1,304.31 billion, only to name a few.