According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon widened by 381.21% (LBP 6,458.53 billion) during the first four months of 2023 to LBP 8,152.75 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 392.69% (LBP 3,237.71 billion) YTD April 2023 to LBP 4,062.20 billion and was accompanied by some 447.25% (LBP 1,873.28 billion) rise in claims on the resident financial sector to LBP 2,292.13 billion coupled with an 843.70% (LBP 547.68 billion) increase in claims on the non-resident financial sector to LBP 612.59 billion, altogether outweighing the 74.84% (LBP 10.00 billion) contraction in claims on the public sector to LBP 3.36 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 49.83% and 28.11% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, customer deposits soared by 678.14% (LBP 2,016.67 billion) YTD April 2023 to LBP 2,314.05 billion, with capital accounts increasing by 207.58% (LBP 1,572.53 billion) to LBP 2,330.08 billion and other liabilities rising by 348.33% (LBP 1,362.44 billion) to LBP 1,753.58 billion, only to name a few.