Berri Urges Salameh to Reassure People their Deposits are Safe

Speaker Nabih Berri urged the Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh to reassure people that their deposits will not be touched, after the bank’s circular about small depositors, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

According to the daily, the Speaker was “dissatisfied” over failure to reassure people on their “lifetime savings,” considering it as “unacceptable.”

Berri was quoted as telling Salameh that “people want their money back, they want to know where their money is?”

“Regardless of what you say is a campaign against the central bank, take the initiative and seriously reassure the people about their money,” Berri was quoted as telling Salameh.

He said people have the right to know the fate of their savings whether they totaled to more or less than 5 million LBP or 3,000 USD.

“People have worked hard for their lifetime savings. It is their sacred right. reassuring these people can no longer tolerate any procrastination or evasiveness,” he said.

BDL issued a circular on April 3, 2020 allowing small Lebanese depositors whose bank deposits amount to 5 million Lebanese pounds or less, to convert their savings into USD at the official rate and then withdraw them in LBP at market rate.

Whereas, account holders of $3,000 or less, will also be allowed to withdraw their savings at the “market rate.”

A liquidity crisis in Lebanon had seen banks gradually restrict access to dollars and halt transfers abroad since fall 2019, leading the value of the Lebanese pound to plummet on the black market.