Check clearing activity waned during the month of March with number of checks dropping by 17.16% month-on-month to 16,504 as the raging war chocked economic activity. On an annual basis, fresh check clearing activity pursued its positive momentum with the total number of checks increasing by around 157.26% year-on-year to  ~37.95K during Q1-2026 from 14.75K in Q1-2025. In addition, statistics are showing a much higher prevalence for fresh denominated checks, with their contribution increasing from 34.15% of total clearing activity in Q1-2025 (LBP contribution of 12.06% and USD contribution of 87.17%) to 68.22% in Q1-2026 (36.30% for LBP & 97.58% for USD). In details, the total number of fresh LBP-denominated checks rose from 3,677 in the first three months of 2025 to 9,675 in the same period this year, with their value rising by 106.26% to LBP 15,216 billion. Similarly, the total number of fresh USD-denominated checks rose from 11,073 by end of March 2025 to 28,271 YTD March 2026 with the value of these checks increasing exponentially to $365.00 million from $152.82 million in the first three months of 2025. Of the total number of fresh cleared checks, 74.50% was denominated in foreign currency, versus 75.07% a year before.

The value of non-fresh LBP-denominated cleared checks expanded by 8.04% y-o-y in Q1-2026 to LBP 16,599 billion (distributed over 16,980 checks) from LBP 15,364 billion (distributed over 26,810 checks) a year earlier. On the other hand, the value of non-fresh USD-denominated cleared checks contracted by 69.41% y-o-y to $78 million (distributed over 700 checks) from $255 million (distributed over 1,630 checks) in the first three months of 2025. Of the total number of non-fresh cleared checks, 96.04% was denominated in local currency, versus 94.27% a year before.

In a related note, the total number of returned checks (fresh and non-fresh) expressed as a percentage of the total number of cleared checks dropped to 0.44% during the first quarter of 2026 down from 0.58% a year earlier. In details, the number of LBP-denominated returned checks (fresh & non-fresh) calculated as a percentage of the number of LBP-denominated cleared checks dropped to 0.30% by end of March 2026 down from 0.43% a year earlier with that of USD-denominated ones (fresh & non-fresh) calculated as a percentage of total USD-denominated cleared checks slowing to 0.56% down from 0.94% in the first three months of 2025.