MATTERS OF FACT

PRIVATE SECTOR CREDIT UNCHANGED LAST YEAR

utstanding credit provided by the financial sector to the private sector increased by 1.3 percent in 2018 to stand at $69.5 billion at the end of the year, according to the Central Bank’s ‘Quarterly Bulletin’ for the fourth quarter of 2018. Loans by commercial banks to the private sector witnessed a decline in the first quarter of 2019 as their appetite for lending remains constrained amid the current low growth environment, Bank Audi said in its ‘Lebanon Economic Report’ for the first