Berri urges cabinet to appoint new BDL governor as crisis looms

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met tuesday with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Ain el-Tineh and discussed the looming leadership crisis at the central bank.

Berri stressed during the talks "the need to hold a Cabinet session to appoint a new Central Bank governor."

The Speaker reportedly refuses the extension of Central Bank chief Riad Salameh’s term, his reappointment to the post or tasking him with acting in caretaker capacity.

Salameh’s four vice governors had warned that they might resign unless politicians swiftly name an incoming governor.

They met last week with the parliamentary Administration and Justice Committee and presented Thursday to the MPs a preliminary comprehensive financial plan.

On Monday the vice governors met with Mikati at the Grand Serail and presented their plan to him, asking the government to cover their work in a legal manner.

The PM considered the plan to be compatible with the government's plan but "impossible to implement" within the deadlines that the vice governors had set.

Lebanon since last year has been governed by a caretaker cabinet with limited powers and without a president, and naming a high official could take months of political horse-trading.

The central bank governor is named by cabinet decree for a six-year mandate that can be renewed multiple times, based on the finance minister's recommendation.

If the position is vacant, the law stipulates that the first vice-governor take over.

The vice governors had warned in early July that they would resign, but later backed down from the idea, saying the threat was intended to "alarm the political class and the people".

On Thursday, first vice governor Wassim Mansouri said that no result was reached during the vice governors' meeting with the Administration and Justice Committee.

He said the vice governors are awaiting the MPs' feedback to their proposal and that they will act accordingly.

In case the vice governors decided to resign, they would act in caretaker capacity until the appointment of a new governor, a step that Berri reportedly supports.

After a ministerial session on Monday, caretaker Information Minister Ziad Makari said that Cabinet will not extend Salameh’s term and that Mikati will re-meet with the vice governors in the critical coming hours.