The Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, confirmed, "The Banque du Liban has liquidity available in banks abroad amounting to 17 billion and 800 million dollars, except for gold, which is valued at around $ 18 billion, which means that the central bank owns $ 36 billion as a whole. " He pointed out that "the Central Bank does not approve the subsidy, but rather the government approves it," stressing that "basic material support will be maintained, and we, as a central bank, are part of the country and are interested in people's affairs, and we are dispatching the government because we want to continue the support plan without reaching the mandatory reserve."
Salameh stressed that "there is a possibility to solve matters without reaching the central reserve through government measures." He considered that "there is an exaggeration by talking about the "evaporation of" depositors' money in banks”, revealing the withdrawal of 30 billion dollars from Lebanese banks, 20 billion dollars to cover debts, and another part for buying real estate and the other in cash.
Salameh noted that "the central bank does not in any way influence the black market price, this market officially affects the sale in the market and the price of the products." He explained that "the state debt to the central bank is in Lebanese pounds, while the depositors' money is not in the central bank." He further explained that the import in the past three years amounted to 56 billion dollars. Revealing that we still have more than 2 billion dollars to use in support, and we will not affect the required reserves.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Edited)
