The Central Council of the Central Bank of Lebanon decided to oblige banks to pay $400 in cash, in addition to its equivalent in Lebanese pounds, to the accounts that were valid in October 2019 and still continued until last March, which means paying the entire balances of 800,000 customers’ accounts with banks, at a rate of about 70% of The number of depositors' accounts.
This came in an official statement following a meeting of the Central Council of the Central Bank of Lebanon today headed by Riad Salameh, President of the Bank, and in the presence of his deputies and the Director General of the Ministry of Economy in an extraordinary session.
The Central Bank of Lebanon confirmed that this decision will take effect from the first of next July, and subsequent circulars will be issued specifying the details of the decision.
The Central Bank of Lebanon clarified that the amounts that the banks will pay in the first year will be paid from their accounts with banks abroad, and the banks will also be able to withdraw the same amounts from the Central Bank of Lebanon in exchange for their mandatory investments.
The bank added that the payment of the 400 dollars per month coincides with the payment of the same amount in Lebanese pounds based on the price of the Sayrafa electronic platform - which is currently estimated at 12,000 thousand pounds per dollar.
The country is witnessing a severe economic crisis that has led banks to stop since the beginning of last year from exchanging any balances in US dollars, and at the end of last March, the Central Bank of Lebanon allowed depositors to withdraw from their dollar balances, but in the local currency at an exchange rate of 3900 pounds per dollar, which is higher than the exchange rate The official rate of 1500 pounds per dollar and less than the unofficial market exchange rate, which is about 13 thousand dollars.
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