Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh said that the current crisis was not financial and economic, but came against internal and external political backdrops. He added that the economic situation would improve by June 2020.
Salameh’s words came during his meeting on Thursday with a gathering of Lebanese businessmen and businesswomen in the world.
Talks revolved around the current economic, financial, monetary and social conditions in Lebanon, and their impact on the private sector and economic and trade relations with the world.
“The problem in Lebanon is not an economic-financial problem, but rather a problem that has preset political backgrounds internally, regionally and internationally,” Salameh said, noting that one of the factors of the problem was linked to “the need to reopen the market so we have foreign currencies, especially in the banking sector in order to revive trade and industry.”
“We hope that within three to five weeks, we will put in place a specific mechanism that has the flexibility and freedom to finance urgent cases by banks”, the BDL governor announced.
The current crisis is a great blow that occurred amid agonizing conditions in the region, Salameh said, stressing that the problem was initially aimed at “shaking the structure.”
“But the structure has overcome the dangerous stage,” he underlined.
Highlighting the importance of fresh money [coming directly from abroad] in providing liquidity, Salameh said: “From now until next June, the economic and financial situation will be at ease in Lebanon.”
ASHARQ AL AWSAT
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.