The Governor of Banque du Liban Riad Salame has asked the Lebanese banks to raise their capital by allowing the shareholders to inject more liquidity by up to 20% of their current capital as of the end of 2019 and until the end of 2020.
He added that "this enhances the capitalization of banks with nearly $4 billion, adding to the capitalization of more than $20 billion, which enhances their financial ability to face the current situation and any future developments, especially in terms of any possible downgrade of the credit rating and stay at sufficient levels of capital above 8% higher than international requirements."
In a related context, the rating agency "Standard & Poor's" downgraded the assessment of the transfer of money and currency from B+ to B-, in a cautionary step which may pave the way for an imminent downgrade of the sovereign rating, indicating that despite the increased risks, the state has always been able to comply with all its entitlements, no matter how difficult.
The agency warned that "the confidence of depositors may be adversely affected by the current uncertainty, which may in turn reflect on the foreign currency reserves at the Banque du Liban.
Source (Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
