Beirut Takes Action To Counter Lebanese Pound Tumble

Text by: RFI Follow

In the aftermath of another spectacular fall of the Lebanese pound against the dollar, which caused a vast explosion of anger throughout the country, the government, urgently assembled, announced this Friday, June 12, a series of measures to stabilize the currency national.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh

The Lebanese government has proposed two types of measures, both therapeutic and coercive. The Bank of Lebanon has been tasked with injecting dollars into the market to reduce the shortage of greenbacks that is causing the vertiginous fall of the Lebanese pound. But this decision has limits because the Central Bank now has only meager foreign currency reserves.

The government has also decided to create a crisis unit which will meet twice a week with the mission of closely monitoring developments in the financial and monetary situation. This measure aims to monitor the Governor of the Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salamé, who has lost the confidence of the political authorities for some time.

The government also wants to crack down on speculators and those who manipulate the pound. Any suspect will be immediately brought to justice, who will have the right to seize the currency involved in possible illegal operations.
Sanctions will also be taken against anyone suspected of spreading rumors "  undermining confidence in the national currency  ".

►Read also: In crisis, Lebanon ready to float its currency to obtain IMF assistance

At the time, this package of measures helped strengthen the pound, which regained some ground against the dollar during the day. The General Security also arrested several people accused of buying and selling currency on the black market.

It is too early to see whether these decisions will stabilize the foreign exchange market. In any case, the demonstrators do not seem to believe too much. They started again in the early evening to invest the squares of Beirut and the main cities and to close the roads in the different regions.

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• Lebanon
• Economy
• Coins

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