The Lebanese government approved this Friday a bill to restructure the country’s banking system, a step that the international community has been demanding for years as part of the measures necessary to overcome the economic crisis that began in Lebanon at the end of 2019.

RELATED:

Israel Attacks Houses in the Town of Yater, South Lebanon

“The funds of savers, especially small depositors, have priority in the bill approved today for the protection of income,” said Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos, after the meeting of the Council of Ministers in Beirut.

The minister recalled that the Executive had already given the green light to an amendment to change the legislation on banking secrecy in favor of accountability and explained that they will now focus on a new law to address the “financial gap.”

The three steps are “interconnected”, so the bill approved this Friday will be implemented once the third law is ready to find a solution to the deficit.

“In a matter of a few weeks, we will have achieved the reform package that Lebanon, its economy and its banking sector need, especially small savers,” Morcos said.

The Lebanese banking system became the holder of a large part of the debt that the State issued after the civil war (1975-1990) to cover its deficit, investing clients’ money and creating a vicious circle only capable of staying afloat as long as money continued to enter the entities.

Early March, the World Bank (WB) presented a $1 billion project, of which some $250 million was in the form of loans, for the reconstruction of the country after the recent aggression by Israel.

EN ESTA NOTA: