According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon widened by 401.86% (LBP 6,808.43 billion) during the first seven months of 2023 to LBP 8,502.65 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 436.65% (LBP 3,600.14 billion) YTD July 2023 to LBP 4,424.63 billion and was accompanied by some 453.77% (LBP 1,900.58 billion) rise in claims on the resident financial sector to LBP 2,319.43 billion and a 766.10% (LBP 497.30 billion) increase in claims on the non-resident financial sector to LBP 562.22 billion, altogether outweighing the 61.71% (LBP 8.25 billion) contraction in claims on the public sector to LBP 5.12 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 52.04% and 27.28% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, customer deposits soared by 700.82% (LBP 2,084.11 billion) YTD July 2023 to LBP 2,381.49 billion, with capital accounts increasing by 148.07% (LBP 1,121.67 billion) to LBP 1,879.23 billion and other liabilities rising by 407.09% (LBP 1,592.26 billion) to LBP 1,983.40 billion, only to name a few.