The Lebanese Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, estimated the value of the deposits that were transferred out of the banks during the first two months of this year at $5.7 billion, despite the severe restrictions on withdrawals in the green currency and transfer abroad amid a severe liquidity crisis.
In a speech following a government meeting in the presence of President Michel Aoun, Diab criticized heavily the performance of the Governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salameh, blaming him for the rapid deterioration in the exchange rate of the lira, which exceeded the threshold of 3800 against the dollar on the black market in the last two days.
Diab spoke of the transfer of $5.7 billion in deposits from banks during the months of January and February, without specifying the destination of the money.
According to previous official estimates, during the last two months of 2019, $2.3 billion were transferred abroad, after an unprecedented popular protest against the ruling political class since the early 1990s accused of corruption and the deterioration of the economic situation. The operations were carried out at the time despite the prevention of the transfer abroad.
Diab spoke of a suspicious ambiguity in Salameh’s performance regarding the deterioration of the exchange rate, considering that the role of the Banque du Liban appears to be either impotent or stalled by a decision or instigating this dramatic deterioration in the price of the national currency.
Diab called on Salameh, who has been in office since 1993, to announce to the Lebanese the facts frankly, what is the treatment horizon, and the ceiling of the dollar's rise.
Source (Al-Khaleej Newspaper-UAE, Edited)
