Lebanon’s Deputy PM Declares Country Bankrupt

Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh Al-Shami announced on Monday, “The state has gone bankrupt as did the Central Bank of Lebanon,” the independent Al Jadeed television channel reported. “The loss has occurred; we will seek to reduce losses for the people,” Al-Shami added, saying negotiations between Lebanon and the International Monetary Fund were underway on an economic recovery package to help usher the country out of the deep financial crisis that has plagued it since 2019.

 

The package would include the passage of a government budget and a capital control draft bill, as well as a restructuring of the banks. Lebanon’s financial implosion, brought on by decades of corruption and mismanagement, led the local currency to lose more than 90% of its value. The World Bank estimates Lebanon’s economy to have contracted by nearly 60% between 2019 and 2021, in one of the worst financial crises in modern times.

In response to Al-Shami’s words, Banque du Liban Governor Riad Salameh on Monday denied that the central bank was bankrupt. “What is being circulated about the bankruptcy of the central bank is not true,” Salameh said in a statement.

 

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Published By: Atilla Yeşilada

GlobalSource Partners’ Turkey Country Analyst Atilla Yesilada is the country’s leading political analyst and commentator. He is known throughout the finance and political science world for his thorough and outspoken coverage of Turkey’s political and financial developments. In addition to his extensive writing schedule, he is often called upon to provide his political expertise on major radio and television channels. Based in Istanbul, Atilla is co-founder of the information platform Istanbul Analytics and is one of GlobalSource’s local partners in Turkey. In addition to his consulting work and speaking engagements throughout the US, Europe and the Middle East, he writes regular columns for Turkey’s leading financial websites VATAN and www.paraanaliz.com and has contributed to the financial daily Referans and the liberal daily Radikal.