BEIRUT (Reuters) - All banks will remain closed on Monday due to protests in the country and damage to some centers and branches, the Association of Lebanese Banks said.
The closure comes in the interest of the security and safety of customers and employees, and in order to remove the effects of damage to some banking centers and branches, according to a statement of the Association.
The Assembly expressed its hope that the general conditions would be established to ensure peace and stability and to resume normal life in the country.
For its part, the Executive Council of the Union of Bank Employees Syndicates in Lebanon, in a statement, its support for the popular movement, which began Thursday.
He said that this movement is a spontaneous reaction to the wrong economic policies adopted by the government since the adoption of the budget in 2019, and continue to follow, ignoring the social reality of the people, which has become a majority under the poverty line and suffering.
The Union deplored the riots that accompanied this movement, especially the encroachment on private and public property.
Since Thursday evening, Lebanon has witnessed angry demonstrations at several points in Beirut and several cities after the government announced the inclusion of new taxes in the budget next year, extending to the free telecommunications sector via mobile phones and others, in order to provide new revenues to the state treasury.
The Lebanese economy is facing economic challenges, such as the confusion of the local exchange market, the fluctuation of the dollar abundance and the rise of the black market exchange rate above 1650 pounds to the dollar against 1507 pounds officially.