FPM to Sue MEA over Obliging Customers to Pay in Dollar

The Free Patriotic Movement announced Sunday that it will file a lawsuit against Lebanon’s national carrier, the Middle East Airlines, after the company said customers can no longer pay for their tickets in Lebanese lira.

The FPM said the lawsuit will be filed by its “corruption files officer”, the lawyer Wadih Akl, at the request of Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil.

Accusing MEA of “violating the laws and depriving the Lebanese of their simplest rights, including traveling with their available currency,” the FPM called on MEA chairman Mohammed al-Hout to “reverse this decision,” noting that “not accepting the national currency represents a criminal offense and violates the text stipulated in the 2020 state budget, which makes national currency transactions binding.”

In a statement, MEA had announced that cash, payment cards and checks would be accepted as long as they are in “foreign currency.”

Lebanon is in the throes of an economic meltdown and a biting liquidity crunch that has seen the local currency depreciate on the parallel market and banks impose stringent controls on withdrawals and transfers abroad.

In the wake of the announcement, dozens of customers crowded the MEA offices at Beirut airport -- the only one open on Sunday -- in the hopes of paying for their tickets in Lebanese pounds, images broadcast on local TV showed.

Middle East Airlines (MEA) is majority-owned by the Lebanese state and administrated by the country's central bank.

The Lebanese pound has been officially pegged at 1,507 pounds to the U.S. dollar since 1997, and the two currencies are used interchangeably in the tiny Middle Eastern country.

But in recent months, the pound has plunged against the greenback on the parallel exchange market.

Informal currency controls imposed since late last year have sparked public outrage in the protest-hit country, where an anti-government popular movement launched on October 17 has grown increasingly angry at banking policies.

Major banks in Lebanon began tightening banking controls this month, halving the amount of dollars depositors are allowed to withdraw every month.

It will still be possible to complete certain transactions -- such as modifying reservations and paying for excess baggage -- in local currency at Beirut airport, MEA said.

MEA offices had so far continued to accept payments in pounds at the official rate and Sunday's announcement was met with an angry response on social media.

"MEA: A national airline that does not accept payment in its own national currency. Logic redefined," one Twitter user wrote.

Another posted in response to the news: "Middle East (MEA) belongs to the Lebanese state, it's a flagrant violation of the law. We're not heading for collapse, we're in the middle of it."

The central bank chief said in January that he agreed with money exchange houses capping the parallel rate at 2,000, but the price of dollars at some exchanges continues to rise.