"Akhbar al-Yawm" agency
The combined balance sheet figures of commercial banks operating in Lebanon indicate that the total assets of these banks amounted to 9,290.5 trillion Lebanese pounds, or the equivalent of 103.8 billion US dollars at the end of March 2024 compared to 9,319.4 trillion Lebanese pounds at the end of February 2024.
The loans to the private sector amounted to 631.4 trillion Lebanese pounds at the end of March 2024, where the loans to the resident private sector amounted to 547.5 trillion Lebanese pounds, while the total loans to the non-resident private sector amounted to 83.9 trillion Lebanese pounds at the end of the month.
Advances to the private sector in Lebanese pounds amounted to 10.8 trillion Lebanese pounds, which is a decrease of 5.6% from 11.4 trillion Lebanese pounds at the end of 2023 and 25% from 14.3 trillion Lebanese pounds at the end of March 2023; while advances to the private sector in foreign currency amounted to 6.93 billion US dollars at the end of March 2024, which is a decrease of 8.3% from 7.56 billion Lebanese pounds at the end of the year 2023, and by 23.3% from 9.05 billion Lebanese pounds at the end of March 2023. These figures are based on the basic Circular No. 167/13612 dated February 2, 2024 issued by the Banque du Liban, according to which banks and financial institutions were required to convert accounts of monetary assets and liabilities in foreign currency into Lebanese pounds based on the exchange rate of 89,500 Lebanese pounds per US dollar when preparing their financial positions, starting from January 31, 2024. These results were reported in the weekly economic report of the Byblos Bank Group - Lebanon This Week.
In nominal terms, advances to the private sector in Lebanese pounds decreased by 634 billion Lebanese pounds in the first quarter of 2024 and by 3,565.2 billion Lebanese pounds compared to the same period of the previous year, while advances to the private sector in foreign currency decreased by 627.5 million dollars in the first quarter of 2024 and by 2.11 billion dollars from the end of March 2023.
Private sector loans in Lebanese pounds also decreased by 16.8 trillion Lebanese pounds (-61%), and private sector loans in foreign currency decreased by 34.2 billion dollars (-83.1%) since the beginning of 2019. The percentage of dollarization in loans to the private sector changed from 90.5% at the end of March 2023 to 98.3% at the end of March 2024, due to the new official exchange rate of 89,500 Lebanese pounds against the dollar, which entered into force on January 31, 2024. The interest rate on loans in Lebanese pounds was 2.98% in March 2024 compared to 5.61% in March 2023, while the same rate in US dollars was 1.85% compared to 4.04% in March 2023.
In addition, advances to non-resident financial institutions amounted to USD 4.41 billion at the end of March 2024, a decrease of USD 47.8 million (-1.1%) from the end of 2023 and an increase of USD 282.6 million (+6.8%) from the end of March 2023. It decreased by USD 4.72 billion (-51.7%) from the end of August 2019 and by USD 7.6 billion (-63.2%) since the beginning of 2019. Deposits of commercial banks in foreign central banks amounted to USD 734 million at the end of March 2024, a decrease of USD 3 million (-0.4%) in the first quarter of 2024 and a decrease of USD 65.6 million (-8.2%) from the same period of the previous year. Also, the total loans to the public sector amounted to 211.1 trillion Lebanese pounds at the end of March 2024, an increase of 1% from the end of February 2024. The banks' treasury bonds totaled 10.89 trillion Lebanese pounds, while their Eurobonds totaled 2.22 billion dollars at the end of March 2024 compared to 2.82 billion dollars in the same period last year. Moreover, the total deposits of commercial banks in the Banque du Liban amounted to 7,261.4 trillion Lebanese pounds at the end of March 2024 or the equivalent of 81.13 billion dollars based on the new official exchange rate of the US dollar.
In contrast, the total deposits of the private sector amounted to 8,118 trillion Lebanese pounds at the end of March 2024, or 90.7 billion dollars at the new official exchange rate. Deposits in Lebanese pounds amounted to 54.2 trillion Lebanese pounds at the end of March 2024, an increase of 4.1% from the end of 2023 and an increase of 3.4% from the same period of the previous year; while deposits in foreign currencies amounted to 90.1 billion dollars, a decrease of 1.3% during the first quarter of 2024 and by 4.3% from the end of March 2023. Resident deposits accounted for 77% and non-resident deposits accounted for 23% of the total deposits at the end of March 2024.
Private sector deposits in Lebanese pounds increased by 2,111 billion Lebanese pounds, while foreign currency deposits decreased by 1.18 billion dollars during the first quarter of 2024. Moreover, the total private sector deposits of the Lebanese pound decreased by 23.4 trillion Lebanese pounds (-29.8%) and the private sector deposits in foreign currency decreased by 33 billion dollars (-26.8%) since the beginning of 2019. The dollarization rate of private sector deposits also changed from 96.4% at the end of March 2023 to 99.3% at the end of March 2024 as a result of the impact of the new official exchange rate on the Lebanese pound component of the balance sheet.
In addition, deposits of non-resident financial institutions amounted to USD 2.75 billion at the end of March 2024, a decrease of 4.6% from USD 2.9 billion at the end of 2023. Also, the interest rate on deposits in Lebanese pounds was 1% in March 2024 compared to 0.63% in March 2023, while the same rate on deposits in US dollars was 0.02% compared to 0.07% in March 2023. The total capital of commercial banks amounted to LBP 263.2 trillion at the end of March 2024 compared to LBP 76.4 trillion at the end of 2023 and LBP 73.1 trillion at the end of March 2023. In US dollars, the total capital of commercial banks amounted to USD 2.94 billion at the end of March 2024 compared to USD 5.1 billion at the end of 2023 and USD 4.88 billion at the end of March 2023.