Following their meeting on Thursday, economic organisms issued a communiqué expressing their opposition to any projects proposed by the authorities aimed at remedying the financial and monetary situation, unless the absolute priority is ensuring depositors can retrieve their deposits.
“Retrieving depositors’ money is a sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be circumvented under any circumstances. Thus, all projects and programs aimed at reestablishing financial order or remedying banking sector conditions must be built on a solid foundation that ensures the preservation of rights and allows depositors to recover their deposits,” the text reads.
The economic organisms have voiced their surprise at “the insistence of the political power to dissipate deposits, despite the considerable potential to reconstitute them through a just and trustworthy financial and economic recovery program, desperately needed by the country.” Furthermore, the economic organisms had elaborated a financial recovery project in the summer of 2022 and submitted it to the government, various authorities within the country and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Unfortunately, despite its positive reception, the latter has not been considered or adopted by the Lebanese authorities.”
The stance of the economic organisms falls within the context of the bill aimed at “improving the banks’ situation and reorganization,” set for consideration at the forthcoming Council of Ministers session. The organisms consider it as more of a plan for the “liquidation” of the banking sector and the deposits held in banks.
