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Lebanon

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Lebanon passes new banking secrecy law after IMF concerns

Lebanon’s parliament on Thursday passed another round of amendments to a banking secrecy law after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said a previous draft retained key deficiencies. The IMF has laid out a list of reforms, including amending its banking secrecy law, that Lebanon must implement before it can gain access to $3 billion to […]

Tie, Accessories, Accessory

Lebanon president accepts maritime border deal with Israel

Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, announced on Thursday his country’s acceptance of the US-brokered maritime border deal with Israel, saying talks had come to “a positive end.” Aoun said the deal represented an “historic achievement” in which Lebanon regained 860 square kilometres (km) of disputed maritime territory but insisted it did not pave the way to […]

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UK firm launches fund to invest Lebanon’s ‘trapped dollars’

A British asset management firm has launched a fund that enables Lebanese bank customers to reinvest their trapped savings in local exporters, generating new dollars that will be repaid to investors and help ease the country’s yawning current account deficit. Several Lebanese citizens have taken up arms to withdraw their own savings from local banks […]

Lebanon and Israel clinch deal on gas dispute over maritime border

Lebanon and Israel have reached a historic agreement demarcating a disputed maritime border between them after years of US-mediated negotiations. While limited in scope, a finalised deal would mark a significant compromise between neighbours with a history of war and hostility, opening the way for offshore energy exploration and easing a source of recent tensions. […]

Lebanon bank crisis

Lebanon’s banking crisis can only be solved with political reforms

Lebanon’s banking sector is in ruins, with little progress made in reforming the ailing industry, whose collapse has helped plunge four-fifths of the country’s population into poverty and forced many citizens to take up arms to withdraw their own savings from banks. Having imposed unofficial capital controls following an unravelling of the Lebanese pound’s longstanding […]

Depositors storm four banks in Lebanon over withdrawal limits

Outraged bank clients, at least two of them armed, stormed four commercial banks across Lebanon on Tuesday over withdrawal limits that have been imposed throughout the country amid a financial meltdown. Cases of bank hold-ups have snowballed across Lebanon as residents have grown exasperated over the informal capital controls that banks have imposed since an […]

Hopes rise in Beirut of a deal to end border dispute with Israel

Lebanon appears to be nearing an agreement with Israel over their disputed maritime border, which could kick-start long-delayed oil and gas exploration.  A deal between the longstanding foes could provide some rare cheer in Lebanon, which is reeling from hyperinflation, the collapse of its banking sector and currency, and soaring unemployment. More than 80 percent […]

Unarmed Lebanese withdraws $12,000 from frozen bank

An unarmed Lebanese depositor managed to withdraw nearly $12,000 in cash from his own bank account, although most people’s savings are blocked, according to a depositors’ advocacy group. Lebanon’s three-year financial crisis has locked most depositors out of their savings as banks imposed informal capital controls. In recent weeks, a growing number of depositors have […]

Lebanon passes 2022 budget that falls short of IMF demands

Lebanon’s parliament passed its 2022 budget on Monday using an exchange rate for customs tax revenues that lies far below the market value of the Lebanese pound, falling short of economic reform measures that would pave the way for an IMF deal. An agreement with the lender of last resort is seen as a first […]

A closed Credit Libanais branch in Sidon, southern Lebanon,

Lebanon’s banks to reopen after wave of holdups

Lebanon’s banks will reopen on Monday, the country’s banking association said, after five days of closures that followed a wave of holdups by savers seeking access to their frozen funds. The association said in a statement on Sunday that the decision to reopen “was taken after consideration of the current difficult security conditions and the […]

Lebanese banker says capital control law ‘solution’ for holdups

A top Lebanese banker on Friday criticised politicians for failing to enact a capital control law, saying this was the way to avoid bank raids by savers demanding funds from frozen accounts and to stop banks’ “discretionary practices”. BLOM Bank Chairman Saad Azhari – whose bank has been one of several held up this month […]

Lebanese woman who stole own savings says she’s not the criminal

On the run from authorities after forcing a bank to release her family savings at gunpoint to treat her cancer-stricken sister, 28-year-old Lebanese interior designer Sali Hafiz insists she is not the criminal. “We are in the country of mafias. If you are not a wolf, the wolves will eat you,” she told Reuters, standing […]

IMF to send mission to Lebanon to discuss slow reform progress

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that a staff mission will visit Lebanon next week to discuss ways to “speed up” implementation of agreed reforms required for an IMF loan program amid deteriorating living conditions in the country. “We are looking to support Lebanon as strongly as we can. It’s a difficult situation,” […]

Depositors hold up two Lebanese banks to grab their own money

Two seemingly armed and desperate Lebanese depositors held up banks on Wednesday to force access to their own money, which has been blocked during a national financial meltdown. One woman with a gun and some associates briefly held hostages at a branch of BLOM Bank in the capital Beirut, before leaving with more than $13,000 […]

Lebanon-Israel maritime talks over oil allocation to conclude in ‘days’

Maritime border talks between Lebanon and Israel that could help allocate oil and gas resources are close to concluding after around two years of negotiations, a top Lebanese security official said on Tuesday. “We’re talking about weeks – actually, days – to finish the delineation issue. I’m hopeful that the situation is positive,” the head […]

Lebanon’s bid for IMF rescue package hits snags

Five months after Lebanon’s draft International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal raised hopes it could finally pull together an economic reform plan to address its financial meltdown, political and financial elites are obstructing prospects of securing any rescue package. Efforts to enact eight reforms sought by the IMF are going nowhere or falling short, hitting resistance […]

Lebanon says TotalEnergies could help in maritime issues with Israel

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun said on Tuesday that France-based oil and gas company, TotalEnergies, could help his country solve maritime demarcation issues with Israel, according to a post from the presidency office on Twitter. Aoun would make “contacts to help in this regard, will increase communications this month”, the office added. Lebanon and Israel are […]

There are tentative signs of recovery but inflation is still hampering the economy

Chink of light shines on Lebanon’s economic gloom

For nearly three years Lebanon’s economic meltdown has sunk the currency by more than 90 percent, spread poverty, paralysed the financial system and frozen depositors out of their savings. But new research released today suggests tentative signs of an improvement in private sector operating conditions. The August Blom Lebanon purchasing managers’ index (PMI) posted fractionally […]

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Lebanon banking secrecy law retains key problems: IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) told the Lebanese state on Thursday its banking secrecy law has not resolved “key deficiencies,” urging officials to make new changes to their first attempt at financial reform. The assessment, seen by Reuters and confirmed by a government official as accurate, is the IMF’s first comment on Lebanon’s steps toward […]