Loans to the private sector were down 0.4 per cent month-on-month at
$56.95 billion but up 4.7 per cent on January 2016. Loans to the
resident private sector were also down 0.4 per cent on December 2016 at
$50.84 billion but up 5.5 per cent year-on-year. Credit to the
non-resident private sector reached $6.1 billion at end-January, down by
0.5 per cent from end-2016 and by 1.7 per cent from a year earlier. Private sector deposits totaled $162.7 billion, little changed
month-on-month but up 7.4 per cent from January 2016. Deposits in
Lebanese pounds (LBP) reached $55.6 billion, while deposits in foreign
currencies totaled $107.1 billion, up 3.9 per cent and 9.4 per cent
respectively on year-ago levels. The ratio of private sector loans-to-deposits in foreign currency
stood at 38.4 per cent, down from 41.5 per cent, while the same ratio in
LBP was 28.4 per cent, up from 25.6 per cent.
