A report issued by the Audi Lebanese Bank showed that the deposits of the banking sector decreased by 25 billion dollars since August 2019.
According to banking sector statistics, customer deposits shrank by an additional $2.1 billion in April, bringing the cumulative contraction to $11.3 billion since the beginning of this year, or a total of $25 billion since the end of August 2019, the date on which deposits began to decline in Lebanon.
Deposits actually shrank from $172.5 billion at the end of August 2019 to $147.5 billion at the end of April 2020. The collapse of deposits by currency in April shows that the decline was in Lebanese pounds, while deposits in foreign currency barely moved. However, since the beginning of the year, a decrease of $7 billion in deposits in Lebanese pounds has been reported, and a decrease of $4.3 billion in deposits in foreign currencies. This pushed the dollarization ratio in deposits to the highest level in 13 years, reaching up to 78.9%.
The banking sector statistics revealed a contraction of $8.1 billion in denominated deposits so far, while a decrease of $3.3 billion in non-denominated deposits has been reported.
Source (The Economic Bulletin site, Edited)
