Based on the banking and monetary statistics just released for the first month of the year, financial sector trends revolve around the following: A real balance of payments surplus of US$ 255 million was registered in the first month of 2026, denoting the continuing excess of inflows over outflows. While the gross balance of payments has reported a rise in net foreign assets of the financial system by US$ 5.7 billion in January, US$ 5.5 billion is tied to the increase in BDL gold reserves as a result of the increase in gold prices, leaving US$ 0.2 billion for the real balance of payments at constant gold prices.  A slight contraction in US$ deposits was registered, mainly due to the withdrawals on BDL circulars 158 and 166 along with the settlement of few FX loans. US$ deposits contracted from US$ 86.2 billion at end-December 2025 to US$ 85.9 billion at end-January 2026, a reduction of US$ 0.3 billion. In parallel, LL deposits reported a noticeable increase in January, to move from LL 84.9 trillion in December 2025 to LL 88.2 trillion in January 2026, rising by LL 3.3 trillion, amid some LL money creation, along with few FX to LL deposit conversions.  The past year also witnessed a quasi-stability in the banking sector gross liquidity. In fact, gross FX liquidity has increased to US$ 7.6 billion in January 2026 (Cash in vaults of US$ 0.8 billion, balances with correspondent banks of US$ 5.3 billion and non-resident security portfolio of US$ 1.4 billion), up by US$ 0.2 billion since year-end 2025.  With respect to private sector loans, LL loans expanded by LL 537 billion, to move from LL 10.4 trillion in December 2025 to LL 10.9 trillion in December 2025. FX loans stabilized at US$ 5.1 billion over the period.  The stability in total FX loans comes despite fresh US$ loan extension by a few banks, suggesting that there has been some settlement of Lollar FX loans.  A relative stability in bank shareholders’ equity was recorded in January following drastic declines over the past few years (contraction of US$ 15.9 billion since crisis onset). Shareholders’ equity actually reported US$ 4.8 billion in January 2026, almost similar to end-December 2025 (US$ 4.7 billion). The stability comes amid slightly positive profitability, following the massive loss trend of the earlier crisis years. (ICE BEIRUT)

Fonte notizia: Bank Audi, LWM, 9-15 March 2026