Banque du Liban agrees to "cooperate" with the audit of the international community
Due to the economic and financial crisis, Lebanon is facing an explosion of poverty.
Here, a man searches the garbage cans in the city of Sidon on February 3, 2021. REUTERS - Aziz Taher
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The Banque du Liban said on Friday February 12 that it wanted to "cooperate positively" with the consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal, which should carry out the forensic audit of the central bank, after a first unsuccessful attempt.
This expertise is required by the international community to unlock aid and try to save the country from the worst economic crisis in its history.
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With our correspondent in Beirut,
Paul Khalifeh
It was more than a month late that the Banque du Liban finally responded positively to the cooperation request presented by Alvarez & Marsal on Friday 12 February.
The international cabinet, commissioned by the Lebanese government to carry out a forensic audit of the central bank, threw in the towel in November.
The cause: the lack of transparency of the Banque du Liban, which had only provided 40% of the documents requested, barricading itself behind the law on banking secrecy in force since the 1950s.
The forensic audit of the central bank and public institutions is
however required by the international community
to unblock aid to Lebanon, hit by the worst economic and financial crisis in its history:
the pound has lost 80
% of its value
, the banks cash flow, state coffers are empty,
prices have skyrocketed
and unemployment has exploded.
Faced with internal and international pressure,
Parliament adopted a law at the end of December lifting banking secrecy
on the accounts of the Banque du Liban and public institutions, allowing the government to resume contact with Alvarez and Marsal.
Part of the political class is opposed to the forensic audit.
This lest he expose the mechanisms of corruption and squandering over the years of tens of billions of dollars.
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