According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon widened by 315.62% (LBP 5,347.28 billion) during the first quarter of 2023 to LBP 7,041.50 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 337.85% (LBP 2,785.52 billion) YTD March 2023 to LBP 3,610.02 billion and was accompanied by some 361.58% (LBP 1,514.46 billion) rise in claims on the resident financial sector to LBP 1,933.30 billion coupled with an 806.58% (LBP 523.58 billion) increase in claims on the non-resident financial sector to LBP 588.49 billion, altogether outweighing the 79.77% (LBP 10.66 billion) contraction in claims on the public sector to LBP 2.70 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 51.27% and 27.46% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, capital accounts soared by 231.17% (LBP 1,751.25 billion) in Q1-2023 to LBP 2,508.80 billion, with customer deposits increasing by 552.90% (LBP 1,644.23 billion) to LBP 1,941.61 billion and other liabilities rising by 238.05% (LBP 931.12 billion) to LBP 1,322.26 billion, only to name a few.