Faced with the paralysis of his government due to the controversy following the indictment of several relatives of political leaders as part of the investigation into the port of Beirut, Prime Minister Najib Mikati is said to have set up several ministerial committees with a view to adopting measures deemed essential. Problem, some of these committees would have thus approached crucial files without any coordination with the stakeholders, thus bypassing certain stakeholders who would have had their say however.
The committee set up with the governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, the Association of Banks, Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh Al-Shami and Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil, who allegedly prepared a controversial bill, would be more particularly targeted. on capital controls granting greater freedom to the governor of the Banque du Liban instead of limiting his responsibilities, observers note. This is all the more serious as this bill on capital controls would not be compatible with Lebanon’s economic rescue plan, which should be on the negotiating table with the IMF.
According to these observers, the Prime Minister, the Governor of the Banque du Liban, the Association of Banks of Lebanon and other stakeholders would thus work to limit the liability of Lebanese banks and their shareholders and not to preserve the rights of depositors themselves. – even, without any control from other members of the government, while certain parties are now openly asking the question of changing the governor of the Banque du Liban.
The first minister has already taken several other controversial decisions, such as increasing the minimum wage or the approval of a monthly advance for public sector employees, measures that have led to a sharp deterioration in the parity of the Lebanese pound against to the dollar and thus aggravated the deterioration of the social and economic situation.
