Salameh confirms departure, warns against stopping Sayrafa abruptly
Outgoing Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh has stressed that he will not stay in his post after his term expires on July 31, as he warned against abolishing the Sayarfa exchange platform in an abrupt manner.
“I declared a year ago that this would be my last term at the Banque du Liban and in a few days I will turn a page of my life,” Salameh said in an overnight interview on LBCI television.
“Throughout 27 years, the Central Bank contributed to establishing stability and economic growth and lowering interest,” Salameh added.
Hoping there will not be “disturbances in the market” after his departure, Salameh called for keeping “the mechanisms that contributed to the market’s stability.”
“I do not blame myself for the collapse, seeing as they want to turn me into a scapegoat,” Salameh added, noting that the Central Bank “financed the state and did not spend the funds.”
“May God forgive those who do not appreciate what I did,” he said.
Responding to criticism by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, Salameh said: “The Central Bank has addressed the results of the government’s policies that led to a deficit in the electricity sector … We spent 25 billion dollars on the electricity plan, not to mention the subsidization policy and the new wage scale that I had warned against.”
The outgoing governor also denied having run a financial “Ponzi scheme.”
“If it’s true that we’re running a Ponzi scheme, we would not have managed to safeguard the market for three and a half years. They are clinging to slogans to mislead the people and convince them that the ‘thug’ Riad Salameh is the one who stole and is the one behind the collapse,” Salameh said.
“They have been surprised that the Central Bank is still standing on its feet,” he added.
As for the controversy over the duties of the Central Bank’s four vice governors when his term expires, Salameh said: “The mission of the Central Bank’s vice governors is to manage the institution, which I hope will remain resilient.”
As for the vice governors’ plan to set up an alternative to the Sayrafa platform, Salameh warned that “setting up a platform without the Central Bank’s intervention takes time.”
“The Central Bank must remain in the market, because there is no supply of dollars but rather demand, something that threatens the lira,” Salameh said.
“I do not want to abolish Sayrafa, seeing as it has made the Central Bank a key player in the market,” he added.
Source: Naharnet
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