The Arabic-language daily Al Akhbar accuses the governor of the Banque du Liban of having ceased to provide the foreign currency necessary for the functioning of the Lebanese embassies abroad.
The newspaper accuses the governor of the central bank of being behind the new price hike, having decided to stop providing dollars to import basic materials before the implementation of the financing program, in accordance with at the will of Prime Minister Najib Mikati. He would also have decided to increase the parity of the circular of 151 from 3900 LL / USD to 8000 LL / USD whereas he was previously opposed to it at the request of the president of the chamber Nabih Berri.
This is the approach that has continued since the 1990s, entrusting Salama with the task of shaping the policies of the system in place, until he arrived with the Mikati government, appointing a Minister of Finance employed in the Banque du Liban, putting in place a proposed law on restrictions on withdrawals and bank transfers (Capital Control), and the monopoly of negotiation with the International Monetary Fund in an attempt to pass its figures on losses and its vision of a solution
Al Akhbar, December 11, 2021
This led the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, to lodge a written complaint with the Prime Minister and to be publicly alarmed about the current suspension of negotiations with the IMF, in accordance with article 52 of the constitution which stresses that the head of state negotiates and concludes international treaties in agreement with the Prime Minister. It does not become concluded until after approval by the Council of Ministers. The government informs the House of Representatives when the interests of the country and the integrity of the State allow it. As for treaties which contain conditions related to state finances, commercial treaties and all other treaties which cannot be abrogated from year to year, they cannot be concluded without the approval of the House of Representatives.
He would therefore have asked the Prime Minister to provide him with the minutes of the meetings with the delegation of the International Monetary Fund, from the date of the start of negotiations until today.
The head of state would thus try to break his isolation, after having had to cede the ministry of the economy to someone close to Najib Mikati while the finance ministry fell to a close friend of both the president of the chamber Nabih Berri and the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salamé. The situation is said to have worsened after the Prime Minister decided to prevent the representatives of the President of the Republic from attending the meetings concerning the quantification of the losses of the banking sector, contrary to the agreement reached when the government was appointed Mikati III .
Since then, the governor of the BdL is said to have even decided to suspend the allocation of foreign currency to Lebanese ministries and diplomatic missions abroad, threatening to paralyze them, which could even lead to the suspension of the foreign exchange process. Lebanese vote outside Lebanon during the legislative elections in March 2022.