Check clearing activity rebounded during the month of June with the number of checks accelerating by 45.64% month-on-month to 25,709. On an annual basis, fresh check clearing activity pursued its positive momentum with the total number of checks increasing by 144.94% year-on-year to ~84.87K during the first half of 2026 from 34.65K a year earlier. In addition, statistics are showing a much higher prevalence for fresh denominated checks, with their contribution increasing from 38.40% of total clearing activity YTD June 2025 (LBP contribution of 13.84% and USD contribution of 90.53%) to 70.36% YTD June 2026 (39.98% for LBP & 97.81% for USD). In details, the total number of fresh LBP-denominated checks rose from 8,486 in the first half of 2025 to 22,892 in the same period this year, with their value rising by 126.57% to LBP 34,838 billion. Similarly, the total number of fresh USD-denominated checks rose from 26,164 by end of June 2025 to 61,980 YTD June 2026 with the value of these checks increasing sharply to $781.83 million from $353.69 million in the first half of 2025. Of the total number of fresh cleared checks, 73.03% was denominated in foreign currency, versus 75.51% a year before.

The value of non-fresh LBP-denominated cleared checks expanded by 13.31% y-o-y during the first half of 2026 to LBP 31,753 billion (distributed over 34,364 checks) from LBP 28,023 billion (distributed over 52,837 checks) a year earlier. On the other hand, the value of non-fresh USD-denominated cleared checks contracted by 38.90% y-o-y to $234 million (distributed over 1,385 checks) from $383 million (distributed over 2,738 checks) in the first half of 2025. Of the total number of non-fresh cleared checks, 96.13% was denominated in local currency, versus 95.07% 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 0.38% during the first half of 2026 down from 0.47% 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 0.25% by end of June 2026 down from 0.37% a year earlier with that of USD-denominated ones (fresh & non-fresh) calculated as a percentage of total USD-denominated cleared checks slowing to 0.50% down from 0.69% in the first half of 2025.