Some 862,772 checks were cleared by Lebanese financial institutions this past April, amounting to $2.3 million. These figures imply a 16.4 percent increase compared with $1.9 million in cleared funds during the same period last year.
The positive performance in clearing activity was attributed to a rise in both local and foreign currency cleared checks. Some 67 percent of April’s deposits were foreign currency checks.
Clearing activity decreased by 2.7 percent in May compared to the same period last year, with the value of cleared checks totaling $2.2 billion. Cleared checks in dollars reached 72.3 percent, remaining the most relevant estimate of economic dollarization, as it highlights collective demand in its investment and consumption components. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
