According to Central Bank statistics, the financial sector’s utilized credits expanded by 391.74% y-o-y to nearly LBP 949.06 trillion as at the end of the first half of 2024 up from LBP 193.00 trillion at end of June 2023 as the official devaluation of the local currency against the US Dollar in January 2024 to LBP 89,500 per USD from LBP 15,000 per USD previously increased the LBP counter value of USD-denominated credits by a factor of five. Of total utilized credits, some LBP 45.1 billion represent the value of utilized credits benefiting from banks liabilities subject to reserve requirements. The breakdown of utilized credits by type of facility reveals a sizeable concentration in Overdrafts (LBP 389.89 trillion <41.08%>), followed by Advances Against Real Estate (LBP 298.13 trillion <31.41%>) and Advances Against Personal Guarantees (LBP 138.81 trillion <14.63%>) only to name a few. The total number of utilized credit transactions stood at 128,488 at end of June 2024, implying an average credit balance of around LBP 7.386 billion per credit line.

From a sectoral breakdown perspective, loans to the Trade & Services sector enjoyed the lion’s share (LBP 349.69 trillion <36.85%>) of total utilized credits, followed by loans to the Construction sector (LBP 240.50 trillion <25.34%>) and Individuals (LBP 131.42 trillion <13.85%>). As for the distribution of utilized credits by number of borrowers, the number of Individual borrowers topped the list of borrowers (75.27% of total borrowers), followed by beneficiaries from the Trade & Services sector (16.00%) and borrowers in the Industrial sector (5.13%).

Geographically, the Beirut & Suburbs region amassed the highest concentration of utilized credits, detaining a share of 82.58% by end of June 2024, followed by the Mount Lebanon (9.12%), South (2.98%), North (2.78%), and Bekaa (2.54%) regions.