Lebanese Finance Minister: Return of the lira exchange rate to what was impossible was

The new Lebanese Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said that the return of the lira against the dollar was not possible, adding that the new government - which held its first meeting today - will lay down legal frameworks to protect the financial situation, depositors and the banking sector, and will undertake reforms in the area of ​​public finance and stimulating economic growth.

Minister Wazani added - in statements to "LBC" - that curbing the parallel exchange market (the black market) will be linked to the work of the government, noting that stopping the collapse of the Lebanese economy is possible, but it requires foreign support.

And the exchange rate of the dollar against the lira jumped to record levels, as today we exchange in the exchange shops two thousand pounds for every dollar, after it was up to 2500 pounds last week. In contrast, the official exchange rate remained in the range of 1507 pounds, and the Lebanese currency has lost in the past few weeks more than 60% of its value on the black market, driven by the political and economic crisis in the country.

The Lebanese minister stressed that his country needs help from abroad to save it from a situation that forces people to beg for dollars in banks and raises fear for their deposits.

In a related context, the Lebanese Minister of Finance stated - in an interview with Al-Jazeera - that "the most important thing is to organize the operations of financial transfers and withdrawals from banks legally", adding that changing the limits of financial withdrawals from banks is linked to developments in the coming conditions, and indicated that the Central Bank of Lebanon will organize Transfers and withdrawals for transparency and clarity.

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Minister Wazni pledged that the new government headed by Hassan Diab would carry out several economic reforms aimed at supporting economic growth, and would discuss legislation to protect the financial situation.

The Lebanese Prime Minister stated after the first meeting of his government today that the country is experiencing an economic catastrophe, stressing the holding of consecutive sessions to formulate the ministerial statement, and its completion as soon as possible, and added that the dismissal of the Governor of the Bank of Lebanon Riyad Salama is not currently possible.

It is noteworthy that the deterioration of the living situation and the deterioration of services are among the main reasons that prompted the Lebanese to exit in large-scale demonstrations unprecedented since early October, after the government sought to pass a new budget for 2020 that includes tax increases.

Despite the government's reversal of these increases, the popular protests continued, and led to the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri two weeks after the start of the demonstrations.