According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon widened by 401.71% (LBP 6,805.81 billion) during the first eight months of 2023 to LBP 8,500.02 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 429.41% (LBP 3,540.47 billion) YTD August 2023 to LBP 4,364.97 billion and was accompanied by some 433.07% (LBP 1,813.87 billion) rise in claims on the resident financial sector to LBP 2,232.72 billion, a 724.42% (LBP 470.25 billion) increase in claims on the non-resident financial sector to LBP 535.16 billion not to mention the sizeable (263.44%) increase in the value of the securities portfolio to LBP 197.20 billion, altogether outweighing the 69.28% (LBP 9.26 billion) contraction in claims on the public sector to LBP 4.11 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 51.35% and 26.27% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, customer deposits soared by 707.93% (LBP 2,105.26 billion) YTD August 2023 to LBP 2,402.65 billion, with capital accounts increasing by 148.38% (LBP 1,124.03 billion) to LBP 1,881.58 billion, other liabilities rising by 428.21% (LBP 1,674.88 billion) to LBP 2,066.01 billion and the liabilities to the resident financial sector skyrocketing by 641.39% (LBP 1,018.11 billion) to LBP 1,176.84 billion, only to name a few.