Banks to reportedly suspend their strike as of Monday

The Association of Banks in Lebanon is inclined to suspend its strike at the end of this week and operations will resume on Monday, al-Jadeed TV reported on Tuesday.

Lebanon's embattled currency hit a new low Tuesday, trading at an unprecedented 100,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar on the black market, as the strike prevented clients and citizens from benefiting from the Sayrafa platform rate.

The unofficial dollar exchange rate dropped from LBP 100,500 to LBP 99,300 later in the day, after media reports said banks intend to suspend their strike as of Monday.

In late 2019, Lebanese banks imposed informal capital controls, restricting cash withdrawals from accounts to avoid folding amid currency shortages. People with dollar accounts could only to withdraw small sums in Lebanese pounds, at an exchange rate far lower than that of the black market.

This effectively evaporated the savings of many across the country. Angry depositors resorted to armed bank heists, demanding their own money. Others have filed lawsuits from abroad to retrieve their money in hard currency.

Last month, Lebanese commercial banks went on an open-ended strike and angry protesters took to the streets, smashing windows and setting tires on fire outside two of the country's biggest banks in Beirut.

The banks reopened their doors in late February following caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati's request to do so for people to retrieve their salaries.

On Tuesday, the banks shuttered doors again to customers and slammed Lebanon's judiciary for not "correcting flaws" in a recent lawsuits against them.

"The banks' cautious position unfortunately has been the right one, as the judiciary has issued more arbitrary decisions in recent days," the Association of Banks said in a statement last week announcing the renewal of the strike.